SMT MAKES R APCH FOR L RWY; LANDS ON WRONG RWY.

Date: 1995-07 · Aircraft: Any Unknown or Unlisted Aircraft Manufacturer

Anomalies: deviation-discrepancy-procedural-clearance|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-landing-without-clearance

Synopsis

SMT MAKES R APCH FOR L RWY; LANDS ON WRONG RWY.

Narrative

I MADE A MISTAKE; BUT AN ATC NONSTANDARD PROC CONTRIBUTED. I WAS TOLD I WAS THE SECOND AIRPLANE TO MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE IN 30 MINS; BUT ATC DIDN'T SEEM TO HAVE A CLUE WHY. I WAS INSTRUCTED BY ATIS TO EXPECT RWY 23L AND TOLD BY APCH TO ENTER A R BASE TO RWY 23L WHICH I ACKNOWLEDGED. I WAS ON A HDG OF 80 DEGS FROM MEM FROM THE W. UPON MY SHIFT TO TWR; MY FIRST AND ONLY CONTACT WAS 'R BASE; CLRED TO LAND RWY 23L.' WHEN I WAS STILL 3 NM SW; I ACKNOWLEDGED R BASE RWY 23L. MY PATH PUT ME IN A R DOWNWIND ON THE N SIDE OF RWY 23R. FOR ARPT ORIENTATION I WAS LOOKING AT THE 'FLT GUIDE' PUB OF TYS WHICH DEPICTS A R BASE TO RWY 23R AND A L BASE TO RWY 23L. THIS IS THE CUSTOMARY SCHEME IN MY EXPERIENCE FOR ARPTS WITH PARALLEL RWYS. THEREFORE WHEN I DID A R BASE FROM A R DOWNWIND OUTSIDE RWY 23R; HABIT TOOK OVER AND I; IN ERROR; TURNED ON A FAIRLY LONG FINAL TO RWY 23R; THE NEAREST RWY; INSTEAD OF XING LONGER ON R BASE TO RWY 23L. ALTHOUGH I MADE A FAIRLY LONG FINAL APCH CLRLY LINED TO RWY 23R; TWR NEVER MENTIONED MY MISTAKE UNTIL I WAS SAFELY ON THE GND. FORTUNATELY THERE WAS NO INCIDENT.

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