I keep having people ask me what I thought of Southwest landing at the wrong airport.

Initially my reaction was to be critical. I put some thought into it before I replied however.

Now at AT we always backup our visual approaches with and instrument approach and only once did I go to a runway that did not have an approach in our data base (7R in LAS). Without knowing how SWA does it I could easily see a situation where when cleared the visual at night the combination of visual illusions and proximity to destination could set a crew up for failure.

Many guys at AT will have a fix in for the destination in the FMS as a backup to distance remaining.

I have to give the crew Cudos for stopping on a runway 1000' feet shorter than Key West.

Now I know how conservative our data is. I am sure ACAR Landing performance would have said it was an unlikely stop.

My question is this:
What is taught if anything at SWA on backing up visual approaches?

Fly safe, we can be our own worst enemies