1993-08 · NASA ASRS report 249598
AN SMA LANDED AT THE WRONG ARPT AT NIGHT.
NIGHT FLT FROM MIC TO GTG. USING COMPUTER; PRINTED OUT FLT PLANS USING RTE FROM MIC TO GOPHER VOR TO GTG ARPT. PLOTTED RTE ON TWIN CITY SECTIONAL. LOOKED UP GTG ARPT INFO FROM COMMERCIAL MANUAL AND TWIN CITY SECTIONAL. FORGOT TO COPY RWY HDGS. THIS PROVED TO BE A BIG MISTAKE. FOLLOWING VOR AND SECTIONAL I THOUGHT I WAS ON CORRECT HDG AND SAW ROTATING BEACON OF ARPT. ANNOUNCED MY POS ON CTAF THINKING I WAS AT GTG. ONE OTHER ACFT WAS IN AREA. HE WAS LOOKING FOR ME AND I WAS LOOKING FOR HIM. LANDED AT ARPT AND THOUGHT THINGS OKAY. OTHER ACFT COULDN'T SPOT ME ON GND. I THOUGHT HE WAS AT INCORRECT ARPT. IN REALITY; I HAD MISSED GTG ARPT AND LANDED AT SIREN; WI; WHICH WAS ON A DIFFERENT SECTIONAL (CLOSE TO GTG). SINCE I HAD NOT COPIED RWY HDGS; I DIDN'T REALIZE I WAS IN ERROR UNTIL HAVING RETURNED TO MIC. VOR; GENERAL LAYOUT OF ARPT ALL SEEMED CORRECT. LUCKILY; NO ACFT IN SIREN AREA BECAUSE I WOULD HAVE BEEN ON WRONG CTAF. IT WAS A LONG; TIRING DAY WHICH CONTRIBUTED TO MISTAKE. NEXT TIME; I WILL REMEMBER TO WRITE DOWN RWY HDGS AND ALSO LOOK AT NEXT SECTIONAL WHEN PLANNING ON A TRIP TO THE EDGE OF ONE SECTIONAL. HAD I DONE THIS; I WOULD HAVE REALIZED HOW CLOSE THE ARPTS WERE. I ALSO WOULD HAVE HAD A VOR NEARBY TO XCHK MY HDGS.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.
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