HELI FOLLOWED WRONG RIVER; DID TOUCH AND GOES AT CTLED ARPT WITHOUT CONTACT.

Narrative

I RECENTLY HAD THE NEED TO MOVE MY NEWLY PURCHASED TURBINE HELI FROM CLEARWATER; FL; TO THE KANSAS CITY; MO; AREA. HAVING NO PREVIOUS TURBINE HELI EXPERIENCE AND NOT HAVING THE HRS TO MEET THE INSURANCE REQUIREMENTS; I ENLISTED THE HELP OF A CFI WITH CONSIDERABLE HRS IN TYPE TO OCCUPY THE COPLT SEAT IN FLYING THE ACFT BACK TO KANSAS CITY. WE DEPARTED FLORIDA WED WITH ME FLYING AND THE CFI NAVING. FRI; WE DEPARTED THE DOWNTOWN KANSAS CITY ARPT TO ENTER THE TCA AND LAND AT KANSAS CITY'S INTL ARPT SO THAT I COULD FAMILIARIZE MYSELF WITH THE FACILITY AND PROC FOR FUTURE LNDGS AT THIS ARPT. AFTER DEPARTING THE INTL ARPT WE HEADED S TO CLR THE TCA. WE HAD THE LCL TCA CHART FOR FREQS AND TCA BOUNDARIES. LOOKING AT THE CHART FOR THE TCA S BOUNDARY WE PICKED UP A RIVER WBOUND. WE DECIDED TO GO TO THE LAWRENCE ARPT; AN UNCTLED ARPT. WE KNEW THAT THE ARPT WAS NEXT TO THE RIVER WITH THE TOWN ON THE L. WITHIN A SHORT TIME A TOWN CAME UP ON THE L WITH AN ARPT TO THE R. WE HEARD AND SAW 1 ACFT IN THE TFC PATTERN 'L DOWNWIND FOR RWY 15'. THE ARPT WE WERE COMING UP ON HAD A RWY 15 OFF THE NOSE. THERE WERE ALSO A NUMBER OF LARGE BUILDINGS IN SIGHT THAT APPEARED TO BE THE KANSAS UNIVERSITY. THIS COMBINATION OF THINGS LED US TO BELIEVE THAT THIS MUST BE THE LAWRENCE ARPT. WE FLEW IN THE TFC PATTERN FOLLOWING ONLY AN SMA SHOOTING APCHS FOR APPROX AN HR BEFORE DECIDING TO LAND AND TAKE A BREAK. AFTER LNDG IT BECAME APPARENT THAT WE WERE AT THE WRONG AIRFIELD. WE ESTABLISHED OUR ACTUAL POS; CONTACTED THE TWR; APOLOGIZED AND DEPARTED. FACTORS WHICH CONTRIBUTED TO THIS PROBLEM INCLUDE: 1) 1 PLT ACCUSTOMED TO THE OTHER PLT NAVING. 2) CITY AND ARPT LOCATION SIMILAR IN RELATIVE LAYOUT AND APPEARANCE. 3) LACK OF TFC AT THE ARPT IN USE. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING INFO: RPTR STATES WHEN THEY LEFT KANSAS CITY INTL AND HEADED S; THEY PICKED UP THE WRONG RIVER TO FOLLOW AND HEADED NW INSTEAD OF THE SECOND RIVER WHICH HEADS W. BIGGEST PROBLEM IS THAT CFI HAD BEEN NAVING DURING THE TRIP. RPTR THOUGHT HE STILL WAS. CFI FELT RPTR KNEW THIS AREA SO HE JUST SAT BACK. RPTR'S LOW TIME/EXPERIENCE LEVEL WASN'T EVEN CONSIDERED. RPTR IS WORKING ON COMMERCIAL CERTIFICATE AND HAS SPENT TIME SHARPENING NAV SKILLS. ARMY SECURITY PERSON MADE RPT; NOT TWR PERSONNEL WHO SEEMED UNDISTURBED.