"MOONEY 62V, ARE YOU LINED UP AT THE WRONG AIRPORT?"

[Brian Scranton]

Well...I flew from MTJ to SLC this morning to catch a flight west. Super nice flight. ATC dropped me from 13,000 to 6,000 in the blink of an eye, had me fly north along I-15 and then make left base and turn final for 17 (the GA runaway at SLC). And so I did. Then he switched me to tower and the nice gal on tower com asked, "Mooney, are you lined up at Bountiful?"

I sure was. It's amazing how busy you get in Bravo, as you're slowing doing, doing your decent/pre landing check, lining up...I guess my brain thought, "hey, any runway will do..."

Dang. There goes my perfect record. 

[thinwing]

Stuff just happens there ...SLC...my favorite

[XXX]

Happened to me early on in my flying life. Cherokee 140 night flight to Stewart FL. Didn't trust my VOR, had counted the numerous airports southbound along the coast. I was convinced I was there but VOR from adjacent inland field told otherwise. Lined up and tower didn't have me, confirmed landing light on, short final...Cherokee, try Ft. Pierce tower... sure enough I was 700 AGL and lined up for Ft. Pierce.

[jlunseth]

I go to KRAP a couple of times a year.  First time there it was hard to find the GA airport and it would have been easy to land at Ellsworth instead.  Thankfully, I followed the moving map to the right airport and ignored what I saw out the window.  Sure enough, a year or two ago a regional jet, I think it was a Delta flight, landed at Ellsworth.  Oops!  I really think Ellsworth Approach is as much at fault as the jet crew.  That's an easy mistake to make and they should have been watching.  I am sure more than one aircraft has done that.

[201er]

Even happens to the big tin sometimes

[Hank]

When I went to KRAP, at every stop I made someone warned me about Ellsworth. From the east, I came in between them and admired that huge SAC runway with enormous B52 skidmarks on both ends. Then I turned left and worried about the crosswind at KRAP instead.

[jlunseth]

3 hours ago, Hank said:

When I went to KRAP, at every stop I made someone warned me about Ellsworth. From the east, I came in between them and admired that huge SAC runway with enormous B52 skidmarks on both ends. Then I turned left and worried about the crosswind at KRAP instead.

Made me laugh.  That is pretty much the same as my first time there.  Now I look for the big obvious airport, and then the little, not-so-obvious one to the left.  And practice your crosswind landings before you go.

[bradp]

I got disoriented turning final to an airport with divergent runways at night and lined up for the wrong one.  Since then I load an approach on the GPS or tune an ILS to make sure I'm going where I think I'm going.  

[kpaul]

Even when VFR, I dial up an approach to the runway I anticipate using.  Makes it easy to verify you are going to the correct one.

[jlunseth]

I have dialed in approaches a few times, to make sure I am on the right runway.  But the moving map is pretty good, I can see where I am supposed to go.  I do always check my heading indicator when I am lined up on final, at airports where there are confusing and multiple runways.  Some are a little mystifying though.  KSTP has a 31 and a 32.  I don't get that.  Parallels I am fine with, but runways 10 degrees apart?  

Edited May 12, 2017 by jlunseth

[BradB]

20 minutes ago, kpaul said:

Even when VFR, I dial up an approach to the runway I anticipate using.  Makes it easy to verify you are going to the correct one.

+1.  I always do this if an approach is available. 

[Brian Scranton]

Yeah--that's the best part--I totally loaded the approach. I also had the LOC and VOR dialed in correctly and IDd. And I had virtual/AHRS/Stratus on my iPad!!! But when it came time to turn final, screaming out of 13,000 for 5,000, my head was outside the cockpit watching 2 737s and a 777. I'm laughing it off but still mad at myself. 

[EricJ]

16 hours ago, jlunseth said:

I go to KRAP a couple of times a year.  First time there it was hard to find the GA airport and it would have been easy to land at Ellsworth instead.  Thankfully, I followed the moving map to the right airport and ignored what I saw out the window.  Sure enough, a year or two ago a regional jet, I think it was a Delta flight, landed at Ellsworth.  Oops!  I really think Ellsworth Approach is as much at fault as the jet crew.  That's an easy mistake to make and they should have been watching.  I am sure more than one aircraft has done that.

Rapid City is my home town and I finished my PPL there many years ago.  It seems like once every ten years or so an airliner headed for KRAP lands at Ellsworth.  It's not a good career move for the pilot.   I've not heard of any GA airplanes doing that, though.

And, yeah, the crosswinds at KRAP are legendary.   This says Rapid City has the most unpredictable weather in the country:

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/which-city-has-the-most-unpredictable-weather/?ex_cid=538fb