As a Delta Air Lines flight prepared to land at an airport in Rapid City, S.D. last summer, air traffic control warned the pilots of a potentially confusing situation: An Air Force base was located several miles away from the airport.
"During interviews, the crew stated they misheard the controller's warning" about the nearby Air Force base, according to a recently released report from the National Transportation Safety Board.
The first officer “said to the captain ‘you got the right one in sight?’ The captain replied ‘I hope I do,’” according to the report.
But something seemed off during the approach for landing.
“The captain said ‘this is the most [expletive] approach I’ve made in a while.’” the NTSB report said.
In fact, the Delta flight was coming in for a landing at the Air Force base instead of the commercial airport.
“The crew realized their mistake just prior to touchdown, but considered it was safer to complete the landing at that point.”
There were no injuries and no damage to the plane. After the landing, the flight continued on to the Rapid City airport. Delta offered passengers “a gesture of apology for the inconvenience.”
To learn more about the NTSB report's findings on the causes of the wrong airport landing, and how common wrong airport landings are, read the full story on MyAJC.com.
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