CO Express lands at WRONG airport
[font=verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Plane lands right on schedule - at wrong airport
CARLYSS, La. (AP) - A Continental Express commuter flight from Houston to Lake Charles, La., landed at the wrong airport, touching down roughly eight miles from its destination at an airfield that usually sees only cropdusters.
The 48-passenger plane with 17 passengers, two pilots and a flight attendant aboard landed safely at Southland Field-West Calcasieu Airport in Carlyss shortly after 10 p.m. Thursday.
A spokesman for the airline and an official with the Carlyss airport both said the bright lights at the recently renovated rural airfield probably contributed to the confusion.
Continental Express spokesman Bruce Kink added that the number for the runway the pilot was bound for at Lake Charles was 33 - the same number as the runway at Carlyss. Also, he said, the destinations have similar compass headings. "I think they're different by, like, one degree,'' he said.
Kink said a thorough investigation was under way but that preliminary indications were the plane was on its final approach, descending from clouds. The runway at the airport in Carlyss is not usually lit up at night, but an electrical contractor was doing a check on the lights, so it was brightly illuminated Thursday night.
Meanwhile, the pilot of the commuter plane was in contact with the Lake Charles tower. "The tower asked them if they had visual of the running lights of the airport. They said they did,'' Kink said.
He said pilots' instruments indicate the number of the runway being approached - in this case it was 33.
Kink said the two pilots, who were not identified, were automatically "decertified'' and will not be able to fly again until after the investigation is complete. They likely will have to undergo more training and tests.
Thursday night, passengers on the plane had to wait for a bus to take them from Carlyss to Lake Charles.
"We're out in the middle of nowhere. It probably took them longer to drive ... to Lake Charles than it would have taken to fly from Houston to Lake Charles,'' said Joe Palermo, a member of the board that runs the airport at Carlyss.