News
Southwest pilot lands at wrong Missouri airport
Jan. 13, 2014, Branson, Mo. - Federal officials are investigating why a Southwest Airlines flight that was supposed to land at Branson Airport in southwest Missouri, instead landed at another airport 11 kilometres away that only had about half as much runway.
January 13, 2014 By The Associated Press
Southwest Airlines Flight 4013, carrying 124 passengers and five crew
members, was scheduled to go from Chicago's Midway International Airport
to Branson Airport, airline spokesman Brad Hawkins said Sunday in a
statement. But the Boeing 737-700 landed at Taney County Airport, which
is also known as M. Graham Clark Downtown Airport.
"The landing was uneventful, and all customers and crew are safe," Hawkins said.
Hawkins did not have information on why the plane went to the wrong
airport. Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Tony Molinaro says
the agency is investigating the incident.
It's the second time in less than two months that a large jet has landed at the wrong airport.
In November, a Boeing
747 that was supposed to deliver parts to McConnell Air Force Base in
Wichita, Kan., landed 15 kilometres north at Col. James Jabara Airport. That plane was flown by a two-person crew and had no passengers.
The website for M. Graham Clark Airport says its longest runway is
1.14 km. Branson Airport's website says its runway is 2.18 km.
"The landing was really abrupt and the pilot applied the brakes
really strongly," Dallas attorney Scott Schieffer, who was on the
flight, told WFAA-TV. "You could hear it and you could certainly feel
it."
Flight tracking website Flightaware.com said the Southwest flight
landed at 6:11 p.m. local time Sunday. It was partly cloudy and 10 C in
Branson at that time.
"Our ground crew from the Branson airport arrived at the airport to take care of our customers and their baggage," Hawkins said.
Flight 4013 had been scheduled to go from Branson to Dallas' Love
Field. Hawkins said a plane was flown in specifically to Branson Airport
around 10 p.m. to take the passengers and crew to Dallas, which
flightaware.com showed landed at 11:42 p.m.
Hawkins told The Associated Press the aircraft at M. Graham Clark
Downtown Airport will be able to take off on the smaller runway, and
Southwest expects to fly it out "as early as [Monday] morning."
The Taney County Sheriff's Office referred all calls to M. Graham
Clark Downtown Airport. Messages left for comment from M. Graham Clark
Downtown Airport were not immediately returned.
