1995-12 · NASA ASRS report 324400
PVT PLT OF AN SMA SEL LANDED AT THE WRONG ARPT AT NIGHT.
I LANDED AT MCGUIRE AFB MISTAKING IT FOR MERCER COUNTY (TTN) (TRENTON; NJ). I LEFT NORFOLK INTL VFR AT ABOUT XA00 LCL ON DEC/XX/95 ON A LEG OF A XCOUNTRY FLT FROM N PALM BEACH COUNTY FOR SOUTHBRIDGE; MA. I HAD BEEN RECEIVING VFR FLT FOLLOWING FROM NORFOLK; PATUXENT RIVER AND ATLANTIC CITY APCHS. I WAS LEVEL AT 6500 FT N OF ATLANTIC CITY WHEN I ASKED THE CTLR IF I COULD DSND TO 3000 FT THROUGH RESTR AREA A-220 IN ORDER TO LAND AT MERCER COUNTY FOR FUEL (REQUEST WAS APPROVED). THE CTLR AT ATLANTIC CITY (WHEN I REACHED THE END OF HIS AIRSPACE) ADVISED ME TO CONTACT MCGUIRE APCH. MCGUIRE ADVISED ME THEIR 'SECONDARY RADAR WAS INOP' AND COULD NOT PROVIDE VFR FLT FOLLOWING. THERE WAS A VERY STRONG WIND NW FLOW THAT INCREASED AS I WENT N. (WHEN CHKED AT NORFOLK; FLT SVC RPTED WINDS TO BE ABOUT 340 DEGS AT 35 KTS AT 3000 FT AND 280 DEGS AT 30 KTS AT 6000 FT. THE WINDS WERE A FACTOR.) AS I ARRIVED OVER RED LION ARPT I MISTOOK IT FOR BUEHL ARPT. RED LION IS SW OF MCGUIRE AS BUEHL IS SW OF MERCER COUNTY. I HAD MCGUIRE IN SIGHT THINKING IT WAS MERCER COUNTY. TO REINFORCE MY MISTAKE THE BEACON AT MCGUIRE AFB APPEARED TO BE A CIVILIAN BEACON AS ONLY 1 WHITE PULSE WAS DISTINGUISHABLE. (THIS WAS LATER CONFIRMED BY BASE PERSONNEL TO BE A PROB.) ALSO THE RWY ALIGNMENTS WERE SIMILAR. ATIS AT MERCER COUNTY WAS RPTING RWY 24 IN USE. MCGUIRE HAS A RWY 24. I CONTACTED MERCER TWR AND RPTED OVER BUEHL AND WAS TOLD TO RPT L DOWNWIND FOR RWY 24. (THE RWY INTO THE WIND WAS NOT IN USE DUE TO SNOW COVER AT MERCER WIND WAS APPROX 340 DEGS AT 18 KTS.) I ENTERED L DOWNWIND FOR RWY 24 AT MCGUIRE STILL THINKING IT WAS MERCER COUNTY; RPTED AS REQUESTED AND CLRED TO LAND. IT WASN'T UNTIL AFTER LNDG THAT I REALIZED I WAS AT THE WRONG ARPT. WHEN I WAS ALLOWED TO LEAVE MCGUIRE AT ABOUT XD00 LCL MERCER TWR WAS CLOSED AND I COULD NOT RPT WHAT HAD HAPPENED. SEVERAL THINGS ALL HAD TO HAPPEN TOGETHER FOR ME TO MAKE THIS MISTAKE; INCLUDING SLOWER GND TRACK THAN I CALCULATED; NOT XCHKING MY POS AFTER I SAW WHAT I THOUGHT WAS THE RIGHT ARPT (THE SECOND ARPT TO THE SW CONFIRMED THIS TO ME); THE SIMILAR RWY LAYOUTS; THE BEACON THAT LOOKED CIVILIAN AND EVEN MCGUIRE APCH RADAR INOP; AS THEY MAY HAVE LET ME KNOW I WAS AT THE WRONG ARPT.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.
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