2006-08 · NASA ASRS report 706793
SINGLE ENG ACFT PLT LANDS AT THE WRONG ARPT; WITHOUT CLRNC.
ON THURSDAY; WIFE AND I TOOK OFF FROM JEFFCO ARPT; CO (BJC) ON A FLT TO SPANISH FORK; UT (U77). I HAD CURRENT CHARTS AND FILED A VFR FLT PLAN. ALSO ONCE I OPENED MY FLT PLAN I ASKED FSS FOR TFC ADVICE DURING OUR FLT. ABOUT 50 NM FROM SPANISH FORK; I CHKED THE INFO ONLY ABOUT U77 WHERE THE RWY IS 12/31; ELEVATION IS 4529 FT AND THE UNICOM 122.9 WHICH I WROTE DOWN ON MY KNEE PAD. I FLEW OVER THE ARPT AND LOOKED AT THE INTENDED RWY (13 AT PROVO) WHICH I TOOK FOR SPANISH FORK RWY 12. THE NUMBER '1' ON THE RWY WAS READABLE; BUT THE NUMBER '3' WAS PARTLY WASHED AND I TOOK IT FOR A '2;' THINKING IT WAS RWY 12; I STILL CALLING SPANISH FORK TFC ON MULTI-COM FREQ 122.9 SEVERAL TIMES DURING MY LNDG PATTERN; ADVISING MY POS. MY ATTN WAS MAINLY IN SCANNING FOR TFC SINCE NOBODY ANSWERED MY CALLS OVER 122.9. AS I PLANNED; I DID A L-HAND PATTERN ON SLOW FLT AND SCANNING ALL TIME FOR OTHER TFC IN THE AREA AND LANDED WITHOUT INCIDENT -- BUT AT PROVO AND NOT AT SPANISH FORK. AS I PASSED OVER THE RWY NUMBERS; I SAW THEM (13) MORE CLRLY THAN BEFORE; AT FIRST I BELIEVE THAT MY MEMORY WAS FAILING ON THE RWY NUMBER BUT I LOOK FOR SOMETHING THAT SHOWS ME THE NAME OF THE ARPT. I REALIZE THAT I WAS IN THE WRONG ONE WHEN I SEE THE CTL TWR. I PUSH THE 'NEARS' KEY ON MY GPS TO FIND THE CLOSEST ONE WAS PVU. I IMMEDIATELY CALLED PROVO CTL TWR WHEN I WAS YET RUNNING DOWN OVER THE RWY; THEY ADMONISHED ME FOR LNDG WITHOUT RADIO CONTACT AND GAVE ME TAXI INSTRUCTIONS; SEND ME OVER GND CTL WHO ASKED ME TO CALL BY PHONE. I CALLED TWR FROM THE FBO RIGHT AWAY AND EXPLAINED WHAT WAS HAPPENED.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.
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