Incident Overview
On September 15, 2003, Air Canada flight ACA183, an Airbus A319 (registration C-FYKW), was operating a scheduled flight from Toronto, Ontario, to Kelowna, British Columbia. Before departure, the crew received a NOTAM indicating that only the NDB B approach was available at Kelowna due to extensive forest fires. While en route, Vancouver Area Control Centre (ACC) advised that the NDB B approach was no longer available, leaving only a visual approach.
Sequence of Events
The crew commenced descent from FL350 and advised Vancouver ACC that they had the Kelowna Airport in sight. The controller cleared the flight for a visual approach to Runway 15 and handed off to Kelowna tower. However, the crew configured the aircraft for landing and turned toward Runway 23 at the Vernon Airport, misidentifying it as Kelowna. After 40 seconds, at approximately 1.3 nautical miles from the Vernon threshold and 730 feet AGL, the first officer suggested a go-around, which the captain executed. During the go-around, a TCAS traffic advisory from a Cessna 152 in the Vernon circuit was received. The aircraft leveled at 6000 feet ASL, then followed directions to Kelowna and landed safely.
Crew Actions and Contributing Factors
The captain, familiar with the area, focused on external visual references and did not monitor cockpit displays for distance to Kelowna. The first officer, unfamiliar with the region, was distracted by radio calls with company personnel and was slow to intervene despite being aware of the remaining distance. Neither pilot queried the reason for the lack of instrument approaches, which were unavailable because their missed approach procedures infringed on a fire-suppression zone. The approach aids were fully serviceable.
Post-Incident Findings
The cockpit voice recorder was not secured and was overwritten during subsequent flights. The flight data recorder was analyzed by the TSB. A subsequent flight with a Transport Canada King Air determined that Kelowna Airport was not visible from the flight path until over Lake Okanagan. The Air Canada Route Manual lacked a visual transition procedure for Runway 15, and the Vernon Airport was not depicted on Kelowna charts.
The TSB concluded that while executing a visual approach to Kelowna, the captain misidentified the Vernon Airport as Kelowna and descended to 730 feet AGL before a go-around. The first officer was aware of the discrepancy but did not intervene promptly.