"Surprise" landing...large plane..small airport

[SoCalDem]

Cause of surprise landing at Davis Islands airport unclear



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Cause of surprise landing at Davis Islands airport unclear
Video Photos

Air Force jet lands at wrong airport - Fri, 07/20

http://www2.tbo.com/news/news/2012/jul/20/18/huge-air-force-cargo-plane-lands-at-davis-islands--ar-437276/

By HOWARD ALTMAN | The Tampa Tribune
Published: July 20, 2012
Updated: July 20, 2012 - 8:49 PM
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TAMPA --

Update: The plane took off from Peter O. Knight Airport about 8:30 p.m. Stay with TBO.com for updates.

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Air Force officials are trying to figure out why an Air Force C-17 Globemaster III cargo jet heading to MacDill Air Force Base instead landed at Peter O. Knight Airport this afternoon. The plane, flown by a crew from the 305th Air Mobility Wing at McGuire Air Force Basee in New Jersey, was arriving from Southwest Asia carrying 23 passengers and 19 crew when it made an "unscheduled landing," according to Sgt David Carbajal, a McGuire spokesman. There appears to have been no damage to the aircraft or the airport, said Carbajal. Air Force officials still do not know why the plane landed at the small civilian airfield on Davis Islands. The incident, said Carbajal, is under investigation.
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The main runway at Peter O. Knight is 3,580 feet long and 100 feet wide, aligned in the same direction as MacDill's runway that is 11,421 feet long and 151 feet wide.

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Ryan Gucwa, a pilot, was getting ready to get in his Piper Navajo and take off from the airport when he looked up and saw "this huge C-17 coming in over the top of the shipping port." Seeing military airplanes over Peter O. Knight was not unusual, Gucwa said, but "this was only 100 feet off the ground and that is bizarre. Once the wheels touched the ground, I was terrified that there was no way to stop in time."

The nose landing gear of the cargo jet stopped about six to 10 feet from the end of the runway, said Gucwa, who took cell phone video of the landing.

snip

[rocktivity]

1. You mean it WASN'T an emergency landing due to an equipment problem???

And now it's too late for the Air Force to claim that it WAS???


rocktivity

[BumRushDaShow]

2. "Ryan Gucwa, a pilot, was getting ready to get in his Piper Navajo

and take off from the airport when he looked up and saw "this huge C-17 coming in over the top of the shipping port", and mumbled "Oh shit".

Well, I certainly would have said that if I were in his position.

[leveymg]

3. Good thing it wasn't a C-5A.

The C-17 can land in your local mall's parking lot. An amazing cargo plane. Gotta love those really effective flaps and thrust reversers:

[oneshooter]

13. Thats good, a C-130 can land, and take off, from a carrier deck

[permatex]

4. I suspect the crew

has some explaining to do.

[pinto]

5. Had a much smaller but similar incident in my area a while back. Commuter prop plane,

on approach to the local airport. Landing lights in that time were "turned on" by the pilot, via a radio signal. Apparently he was within range of another local, very small strip. Activated those lights as well and landed, safely, there. The passengers were bussed to the intended destination and the airline had to strip down the plane to lighten the take off load. A senior pilot came in and got the empty plane up and to the other airport.

Local airport now has the works - control tower, 24/7, expanded to serve medium sized jets, etc. etc. Its a bustling local hub, but what an odd event. I always wondered what the pilot, crew and passengers thought when they realized they had landed at a tiny, private air strip.

[cloudbase]

6. Knight, MacDill and Tampa International

are pretty close together, but seen from the air it's pretty hard to mistake Knight for either of the others.

[FLyellowdog]

7. The runway he was looking for at MacDill was numbered

the same as the runway at Knight...For whatever reason, he didn't realize that he had to fly OVER Knight to get to MacDill. He saw the runway number, and heard "Cleared to land" from MacDill. No one noticed he was descending too soon for landing at MacDill...so, he landed at the wrong airport! There'll be LOTS of 'splaining to do.

Not to mention...how will the C-17 be able to take off from this shorter runway? Should be interesting.

[SoCalDem]

8. there's a video of the take off..ans the landing (at the link)

Looooooo.....ceeeeeeee

[FLyellowdog]

9. Thanks...Do they have to take off with just a little fuel

when using a shorter runway? Scary.

[FLyellowdog]

11. Guilty as charged!

[catnhatnh]

12. Runways are numbered from 1 to 36...

reflecting their compass heading to the nearest 10 degrees...IE: an east/west runway is numbered 27 if you are landing to the west and 09 if you are landing to the east. The runways were numbered identically because both pointed approximately 40 degrees west of south.

[MadHound]

10. Probably an inexperienced pilot,

All sorts of strange things happen with inexperienced Air Force pilots. The one I remember best is when I lived just south of Columbia Mo. Working on my car, I heard this low roaring getting louder and louder. Looked around and this B-52 bomber comes lumbering into view, flying low and slow. It passes directly overhead, low enough that I waved at the co-pilot, who waved back. It then went on north to downtown Columbia, circled right around the water tower(marked COLUMBIA MISSOURI), and went lumbering back south.

Its strange appearance prompted the local paper to do some calling, and it turns out that this was a training cruise for a new crew. They had gotten lost, way lost. They were based in Louisiana and their flight plan was supposed to keep them in state. Ooops.