WDB ACFT SIGHTS WRONG ARPT; DISCOVERS ERROR AND DOES MISSED APCH.
Synopsis
WDB ACFT SIGHTS WRONG ARPT; DISCOVERS ERROR AND DOES MISSED APCH.
Narrative
WE WERE DSNDING TO 3000 FT WITH THE UNDERSTANDING THAT WE WERE BEING VECTORED TO INTERCEPT NGO (NAGOYA) RWY 16R VOR/DME FINAL APCH COURSE. APCH CTL VECTORED US W THROUGH FINAL AND THEN BACK. THE APCH WAS NOT IN THE FMS DATABASE AND BOTH PLTS WERE USING RAW DATA. AS WE SAW THE DEV BAR BEGIN TO CTR; THE CAPT (WHO WAS HAND FLYING) CALLED 'ARPT IN SIGHT.' IT WAS APPARENT THAT WE WERE TOO HIGH AND A FEW SECONDS (5-10) LATER THE FO AND I REALIZED THIS WAS NOT THE NAGOYA ARPT. THE VISUAL APPEARANCE WAS SIMILAR; BUT RWY HDG WAS 30 DEGS OFF AND NOW WE WERE E OF THE FINAL APCH COURSE; AND STILL APPROX 9 MI NNE OF NGO. WE BROKE OFF THE APCH AND SHORTLY THEREAFTER SAW THE NGO ARPT; BUT APCH VECTORED US FOR ANOTHER APCH. LANGUAGE AND PHRASEOLOGY WERE DEFINITELY A FACTOR. IT WAS NOT QUITE CLR; AFTER SEVERAL QUERIES; IF WE WERE CLRED FOR THE APCH OR WERE STILL ON VECTORS. A 'HEADS UP' CALL THAT ONE MIGHT EXPECT IN CONTINENTAL UNITED STATES SUCH AS 'ARPT AT 2 O'CLOCK; 9 MI;' IS NOT USED IN JAPAN OR OTHER ASIAN COUNTRIES THAT I'M AWARE OF. THE CAPT WAS NEW TO INTL FLYING AND TO THE ACFT (4 MONTHS APPROX) AND SAW WHAT HE EXPECTED TO SEE AND MADE A QUICK DECISION BASED ON LIMITED INFO. COCKPIT RESOURCE MGMNT IS ALIVE AND WELL. TOTAL CREW INVOLVEMENT PREVENTED AN EMBARRASSING SIT. WE WERE NEVER CLOSE TO LNDG AT THE WRONG ARPT (GIFU-RJNG); BUT THE POTENTIAL WAS THERE. OTHER POINTS TO CONSIDER: 1) 1 PLT SHOULD BE IN MAP MODE -- BETTER GRAPHIC PRESENTATION. 2) APCH PLATE SHOULD HAVE OTHER ARPT DEPICTED. 3) AUTOPLT SHOULD BE USED IN UNFAMILIAR AREAS (AT LEAST DURING EARLY PART OF APCH). RWY 16 IS VERY RARELY THE ACTIVE RWY IN NGO AND NORMALLY A PRECISION APCH IS THEN USED.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.