A MEDIUM LARGE TRANSPORT CREW MISTOOK NAS ALAMEDA FOR OAK WHILE ON A VISUAL TO OAK RUNWAY 09R. OAK TWR CALLED A LOW ALTITUDE ALERT AT 1;300 FT AND FLIGHT CREW RECOVERED.

Date: 2008-10 · Aircraft: Medium Large Transport; Low Wing; 2 Turbojet Eng · Phase: approach

Anomalies: deviation-track-heading-all-types|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-clearance|inflight-event-encounter-cftt-cfit|inflight-event-encounter-weather-turbulence

Synopsis

A MEDIUM LARGE TRANSPORT CREW MISTOOK NAS ALAMEDA FOR OAK WHILE ON A VISUAL TO OAK RUNWAY 09R. OAK TWR CALLED A LOW ALTITUDE ALERT AT 1;300 FT AND FLIGHT CREW RECOVERED.

Narrative

CAPT AND I WERE CLRED FOR THE VISUAL APCH INTO OAK ARPT. THE ARPT WAS LNDG TO THE E AND WAS ORIGINALLY CLRED FOR THE VISUAL TO RWY 11 THEN ULTIMATELY CLRED FOR THE VISUAL RWY 9R. HOWEVER; WHEN WE CALLED THE ARPT; WE MISTAKENLY VIEWED ALAMEDA NAS AS THE ARPT. I BEGAN MY DSCNT FROM 3100 FT MSL AND AT 1300 FT WE RECEIVED A LOW ALT ALERT FROM OAK TWR. WE THEN LEVELED OFF AND STOPPED OUR DSCNT. IT WAS AT THAT TIME WE NOTICED THAT WE HAD MISTAKEN THE ARPT AND OBSERVED OAK AT OUR 11 O'CLOCK POS ON THE NEXT PENINSULA. THE ATIS INFO WAS ADVERTISING THE ILS 11 AND VOR/VISUAL APCH TO RWY 9R. I HAD THE FMS EXTENDED CTRLINE FOR RWY 9R SET IN MY BOX AND WHILE APCHING ALAMEDA NAS; THE CTRLINE WAS LINED UP. WE CORRECTED OUR ALTDEV AND COMPLETED THE VISUAL APCH FOR RWY 9R AT OAK WITHOUT FURTHER INCIDENT. THE WINDS WERE FAVORING THE E LNDGS AND THIS WAS MY FIRST VISUAL APCH INTO OAK FROM THE N LNDG E. ONE OF THE CONFUSING PARTS WAS THAT NORCAL COULD ONLY CLR US FOR THE VISUAL RWY 11 DUE TO NOISE ABATEMENT; HOWEVER; THE ATIS ADVERTISED THE VISUAL/VOR APCH TO RWY 9R. THIS SLIGHTLY ADDED TO THE CONFUSION FOR RWYS AND SETTING UP FOR THE APCH; AS WE HAD SET UP FOR A RWY 9R APCH. I BELIEVE A NOTE ON THE ARR CHART WOULD KEY PLTS TO NOT MISTAKE ALAMEDA NAS FOR OAKLAND WHEN LNDG TO THE E; AND WOULD BE HELPFUL. THE VISUAL CUES LOOKING FOR THE WATERWAYS; PENINSULA; AND RWY DIRECTIONS ARE SIMILAR WHEN APCHING FROM THE NE FOR BOTH ALAMEDA NAS AND OAK.

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