UNAUTH PENETRATION OF AIRSPACE AFTER WRONG ARPT APCH AND LNDG.

Date: 1991-09 · Aircraft: Small Aircraft; High Wing; 1 Eng; Fixed Gear

Anomalies: deviation-discrepancy-procedural-far|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-landing-without-clearance|other-airspace-violation-entry-or-exit|other-unspecified

Synopsis

UNAUTH PENETRATION OF AIRSPACE AFTER WRONG ARPT APCH AND LNDG.

Narrative

I PICKED UP THE ACFT IN MCALLEN; TX; AND FLEW IT; VFR; TO DEL RIO; NAVIGATING WITH A CG 23 WAC CHART AND AN AOPA ARPT DIRECTORY. I WAS UNFAMILIAR WITH THE AREA BUT EXPECTED TO FIND THE ARPT CLOSED; NOT LIT; AND ON THE MEXICO BORDER. I EXPECTED TO LAND ON RWY 13. UPON ARR I ATTEMPTED TO CONTACT ATC ON THE PUBLISHED FREQS BUT RECEIVED NO RESPONSE. I ALSO EXPECTED TO IDENT THE AIR FORCE BASE IN CLOSE PROX TO DEL RIO INTL; BUT OBSERVED NO ROTATING BEACON. SINCE THE ARPT WAS IDENTED TO BE ON THE BORDER; I WAS CONCERNED ABOUT MAKING AN ILLEGAL BORDER XING. HAVING IDENTED AN 'INTL' LOOKING ARPT; WITH RWY '13' AND NO IDENTIFIABLE LIGHTING; 'NO ROTATING BEACON;' I PROCEEDED TO MAKE A LNDG. ONCE ON THE GND; I OBSERVED THE JETS THAT WERE TIED DOWN AND REALIZED THE ERROR. IF I HAD BEEN ABLE TO ACCOMPLISH ANY OF THE FOLLOWING; THE ABOVE ERROR WOULD NOT HAVE OCCURRED. OBSERVED A 'WHITE; WHITE; GREEN' BEACON. RAISED ANYBODY ON THE PUBLISHED FREQS. BEEN ABLE TO SKIRT THE AREA TO THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF DEL RIO INTL WITHOUT CONCERN FOR ILLEGAL BORDER XING. ALL OF MY CHARTS WERE CURRENT. VISIBILITY WAS CLR BUT DUSK LIGHTING AND A 3500 FT OVCST IMPAIRED MY ABILITY TO PERHAPS GET A VIEW FROM 'HIGHER UP.' THESE FACTORS MAY HAVE PLAYED A LESS IMPORTANT ROLE IN THIS SCENARIO.

Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.