DESPITE NUMEROUS RED FLAGS; FLT CREW OF B757-200 LANDS AT WRONG ARPT. COMPOUND ERROR BY TAKING OFF WITHOUT RELEASE AND FLYING TO ORIGINAL DEST.

Date: 2004-10 · Aircraft: B757-200

Anomalies: deviation-discrepancy-procedural-published-material-policy|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-far|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-clearance|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-other-unknown|flight-deck-cabin-aircraft-event-other-unknown|ground-event-encounter-other-unknown|ground-incursion-runway

Synopsis

DESPITE NUMEROUS RED FLAGS; FLT CREW OF B757-200 LANDS AT WRONG ARPT. COMPOUND ERROR BY TAKING OFF WITHOUT RELEASE AND FLYING TO ORIGINAL DEST.

Narrative

WE WERE ENRTE AT FL280. WE BEGAN TO DSND AND REQUESTED LOWER. WE WERE HIGH FOR OUR APCH. ATC THEN CLRED US DOWN TO 13000 FT. AFTER ANOTHER FREQ CHANGE; WE WERE TOLD THAT THE ARPT WAS AT 12 O'CLOCK POS. WE NOTED 2 BEACONS. ONE WAS AT OUR 2 O'CLOCK POS; AND ONE WAS AT OUR 12 O'CLOCK POS. THERE WAS NO ATIS AND THE TWR WAS CLOSED. WE DID NOT HAVE THIS INFO AND WERE GIVEN THE WRONG FLT OPS FREQ BY THE COMPANY. THE FO HAD PUT THE RWY FOR RWY 22 IN THE FMS. WE BOTH NOTED THAT WE DID NOT HAVE GS INFO EVEN THOUGH THE FMS SHOWED THE FIELD WAS AT 12 O'CLOCK POS AT THE APPROX DISTANCE EXPECTED. CTR TERMINATED OUR RADAR SVCS AT 3500 FT. THEY ADVISED US TO CALL THEM ON THE GND. PLEASE NOTE THAT APCH CTL WAS CLOSED. ALSO; THE FO EXTENDED THE LINE FROM RWY 22. WE BOTH NOTED THAT WE DID NOT HAVE GS INFO BUT DISCUSSED THE LOC AND GS WAS OFF OR SWITCHED TO RWY 4. THE APCH WAS NORMAL AND ON SPD WITH A GOOD VASI. AFTER LNDG; WE CALLED CTR AND TOLD THEM WE WERE ON THE GND AT XXX. AFTER WE EXITED THE RWY IT BECAME APPARENT THAT WE WERE CONFUSED BY THE CLOSE PROX OF THE ARPTS AND THE NEARLY IDENTICAL RWY DIRECTIONS. WE HAD LANDED AT ZZZ SEVERAL MI S OF XXX. AFTER WE DISCUSSED THE MISTAKE; WE CALLED CTR AND TOLD THEM WHAT HAD HAPPENED. DURING THE TIME ON THE GND AT ZZZ THE FLT ATTENDANTS CALLED THE FLT DECK ABOUT 6 TIMES IN ABOUT AN 8 MIN SPAN AND TOLD ME THE PAX WERE UPSET AND WANTED TO KNOW WHAT WE WERE GOING TO DO. I MADE AN ANNOUNCEMENT TO THE PAX AND TOLD THEM WE WOULD BE UNDERWAY SHORTLY. THE FLT ATTENDANTS KEPT CALLING ME EVEN AFTER THAT. WE CALLED ZTL AND TOLD THEM THAT WE WOULD LIKE TO TAKE OFF AND FLY OVER TO XXX; WHICH WAS ABOUT 6 MI AWAY. WE LOOKED OVER THE ZZZ ARPT DIAGRAM AND NOTED THE RWY WAS 8000 FT LONG. ALSO; WE WERE 11000 LBS LIGHTER. WE WORKED OUT DATA FOR OUR V-SPDS AND PROGRAMMED THE FMS. THE WX WAS CLR AND THE WIND WAS CALM. ATC INFORMED US THAT THERE WERE 2 INBOUND FLTS FOR THE ARPT BUT THEY WERE BOTH STILL WAY OUT AND AT 10000 FT. WE TOOK OFF ON RWY 5 CLBING TO 2000 FT. I FLEW A VISUAL PATTERN WITH THE ILS AS MY BACKUP. WE LANDED WITHOUT INCIDENT. WE WERE TALKING TO THE ARPT ASSISTANT MGR AND TOLD HIM WE HAD TRIED CALLING HIM ON FREQ 120.0 OR 120.1 AND HE SAID THAT WAS NOT THEIR FREQ. THIS WAS THE FREQ THAT WAS ON THE INFO SHEET FROM THE COMPANY. THE ARPT MGR STATED THAT IF HE HAD BEEN CONTACTED HE WOULD HAVE TURNED ON THE ARPT LIGHTS. AFTER THE PAX WERE OFF THE ACFT; I CALLED OPS. OPS TOLD ME THE CHIEF PLT WAS TRYING TO GET IN TOUCH WITH ME. HE SAID HE WAS REMOVING BOTH OF US FROM THE LINE. AT THAT POINT. I REQUESTED A DRUG AND ALCOHOL TEST.

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