"FAA report filed on wrong-airport landing"

Saturday, February 5, 2005

FAA report filed on wrong-airport landing 
The Associated Press


RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) - The Federal Aviation Administration has filed a
report on a June incident during which a Northwest Airlines passenger plane
landed at Ellsworth Air Force Base instead of Rapid City Regional Airport
seven miles away. 

The report says Northwest Flight 1152 from Minneapolis was given clearance
to land at Rapid City Regional Airport June 19 but that it mistakenly landed
at the base, television stations KOTA and KEVN of Rapid City reported
Friday. 

The FAA said the pilots qualified for immunity from further action because
they self-reported what they did. 

The agency said the pilot in charge violated a rule stipulating that once
clearance to land is obtained, the pilot may not deviate from it unless
there is an emergency. 

The St. Paul, Minn., Pioneer Press reported in September that the two pilots
had been fired in July but filed a grievance over their dismissal. Northwest
Airlines refused comment on personnel issues. 

The plane, with 117 passengers and a crew of five, remained on the ground at
Ellsworth for more than three hours during the daylight incident. A new crew
was sent to continue the flight to Rapid City Regional Airport. 

A report on an FAA Web site listed as being written by one of the
unidentified pilots indicated the weather was overcast at the time. When the
plane got below the cloud cover, the pilots saw a runway "in front of us
that looked like the correct one," the report said.


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