PLT UNFAMILIAR WITH DUPAGE ARPT LOCATED AND SAW THE ARPT BUT UNAWARE OF NEW RWYS THOUGHT HE WAS AT WRONG ARPT AND PULLED OUT OF APCH PATTERN.

Date: 1992-01 · Aircraft: Small Aircraft; Low Wing; 1 Eng; Fixed Gear

Anomalies: deviation-track-heading-all-types|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-clearance

Synopsis

PLT UNFAMILIAR WITH DUPAGE ARPT LOCATED AND SAW THE ARPT BUT UNAWARE OF NEW RWYS THOUGHT HE WAS AT WRONG ARPT AND PULLED OUT OF APCH PATTERN.

Narrative

I FILED IFR FOR A FLT FROM MY HOME BASE; CEDAR RAPIDS; IA (CID) TO DUPAGE; IL (DPA). THE WX WAS VFR EXCELLENT VISIBILITY. I MADE SURE THERE WERE APPROPRIATE ENRTE CHARTS AND APCH PLATES IN THE COCKPIT. WE USE THE CHART SVC WHEREBY THE SUBSCRIBER IS PERIODICALLY SENT A COMPLETELY REVISED SET OF APCH PLATES AND ALSO SENT 8 PERIODICAL UPDATES WHICH ARE FILED BEHIND TABS - THE CONCEPT IS THAT THE PLT CHKS THE LATEST TAB INDEX PRIOR TO DEP TO SEE IF ANY RELEVANT PLATES HAVE BEEN UPDATED. FOR SOME INEXPLICABLE REASON; I DID NOT TAKE THIS STEP (CHK FOR REVISIONS). THIS MAY HAVE BEEN PARTIALLY CAUSED BY THE FACT THAT THE COMPLETE REVISION WAS QUITE NEW - 2 OF THE 8 UPDATES HAD BEEN RECEIVED. IN THE BRIEFING I RECEIVED PRIOR TO FILING; MENTION WAS MADE OF A NOTAM AT DUPAGE RELATING TO RWY 1. I KNOW THE ILS WAS ON RWY 10 THE NOTAM MOMENTARILY CONFUSED ME AND I DID NOT RESOLVE MY CONFUSION. AS I APCHED DUPAGE; I TUNED IN THE LOC FOR 10 AND NOTED THAT MY APCH WAS ALMOST PERFECTLY LINED UP WITH 10. THE ATIS INDICATED RWY 15-33 WAS CLOSED SO GIVEN THE ARPT DIAGRAM I WAS USING; IT WAS CLR TO ME THAT I WOULD BE LNDG ON 10...WHICH WAS IN USE ACCORDING TO THE ATIS. ACTUALLY; I THINK THE ATIS SAID 'LNDG AND DEPARTING RWY 10 LNDG RWY 1L'. RWY 10 AID 1L CONFUSED AND DISORIENTED ME - ESPECIALLY GIVEN THE FACT I WAS USING AN OUTDATED ARPT DIAGRAM. I ASKED THE EXTREMELY BUSY CHICAGO CTR CTLR FOR CLARIFICATION - HE RESPONDED (I THINK) AND HIS ANSWER WAS UNINTELLIGIBLE TO ME. WHEN I SAW THE ARPT; CHICAGO APCH CLRED ME FOR THE VISUAL (TO 1L) AND INSTRUCTED ME TO GO TO TWR. NOW ON TWR FREQ; I WAS A LITTLE STUNNED TO REALIZE THE ARPT IN VIEW WAS MOST CERTAINLY NOT HE DUPAGE I KNEW AND AT WHICH I OCCASIONALLY LANDED. I CONFESSED MY CONFUSION TO THE TWR AS I OVERFLEW THE APCH (DID NOT TURN FINAL ON 1L). THEY GAVE ME APPROPRIATE INSTRUCTIONS TO GET ME BACK IN A FINAL APCH CONFIGN AND I LANDED WITHOUT FURTHER INCIDENT. THIS IS NOT TO SAY MY CONFUSION AND DISORIENTATION DID NOT CAUSE ATC PROBLEMS - THEY WERE BUSY AND I'M SURE I WAS A PROBLEM FOR THEM.

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