ACR LTT LANDED AT WRONG ARPT AT NIGHT.

Date: 1988-07 · Aircraft: Light Transport; Low Wing; 2 Turboprop Eng

Anomalies: deviation-discrepancy-procedural-far|other-unspecified

Synopsis

ACR LTT LANDED AT WRONG ARPT AT NIGHT.

Narrative

WE WERE ON OUR 8TH LEG OF THE DAY FROM TCL TO GTR; WHERE WE WERE TO OVERNIGHT. WE WERE PROCEEDING DIRECT TO IGB VOR; WHICH IS 5 MI NE OF GTR. WE WERE AROUND 8 MI OUT WHEN WE SPOTTED WHAT WE THOUGHT WAS GTR; BUT WAS ACTUALLY STF; WHICH IS 14 MI W OF GTR. IN THIS AREA THERE ARE AT LEAST 4 ARPTS; ALL WITH 18-36 RWYS. THE RWY LIGHTS AND ROTATING BEACON WERE VERY NOTICEABLE; WHILE WE NEVER SAW GTR WHICH IS DIM. BOTH AREAS LOOK THE SAME; WITH THE SAME KIND OF SURROUNDINGS AND THE TERMINALS ARE BOTH ON THE E SIDE OF THE ARPT. WE HAD NO DOUBTS THAT THIS WAS GTR. I HAD MY VOR SELECTED FOR THE LOC DME BC RWY 36 WITH THE DME FROM IGB VOR ON HOLD. ONCE WE SIGHTED THE ARPT (STF) I TURNED SW TO ENTER A BASE LEG (RIGHT) TO RWY 36 (I WAS FLYING). OUR ALT WAS 5000' FROM TCL AND WE HAD DSNDED TO 3000' IN THE COLUMBUS AREA. IT WAS NIGHT; CLEAR AND HAZY. ONCE WE SAW THE ARPT OUR DME WAS READING 12 MI; WHICH I THOUGHT WAS CORRECT. I SIMPLY ASSUMED IT WAS THE CORRECT ARPT AND DID NOT NOTICE MY NAV REFERENCES AND LANDED AT THE WRONG ARPT. I CANCELLED IFR WITH COLUMBUS MIL APCH; WHOM WE HAD BEEN TALKING TO. THERE WERE 2 GA ACFT ON UNICOM FOR GTR; AND WHEN WE WERE ON BASE ACR B CALLED UP N OF GTR. WE NEVER SAW THEM; BUT WERE CONCERNED AND LOOKING FOR THEM. EVERYONE WAS USING RWY 36. I HAVE LANDED AT GTR SEVERAL TIMES DURING THE DAY; BUT ALWAYS APCHED FROM THE N SIDE. IN THIS INCIDENT I APCHED FROM THE S--NEVER AGAIN. I DID NOT REALIZE THERE WAS AN ARPT W OF GTR. I KNEW THERE WAS ONE E THOUGH. I SIMPLY LANDED AT THE WRONG ARPT; BUT WAS DETERMINED AND CONVINCED IT WAS THE CORRECT ONE WHEN I LANDED. I KNEW WHEN I TAXIED OFF WHAT I HAD DONE. WHEN WE SPOTTED STF; THINKING IT WAS GTR; WE TOLD COLUMBUS APCH WE HAD THE FIELD IN SIGHT AND HE CLRED US FOR A VISUAL. SUPPLEMENTAL INFO FROM ACN 90609: APPROX 12 SE OF IGB VOR; WE TOLD APCH CTL WE HAD THE BEACON FOR GTR AND WERE GOING TO PROCEED DIRECT TO THE ARPT (WHICH REALLY WAS STF). AFTER BEING CLRED DIRECT TO THE ARPT; WE BOTH SET THE LOC FREQ IN BOTH NAVAIDS AND THE PF KEPT THE DME INFO ON HIS NAVAID FROM IGB.

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