Pinnacle joins the list...(this is actually from a few days ago.)

http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/...NESS/610270315

 

Well, I don't think they "joined the list". Aligning with the wrong runway many miles out on a visual approach is one thing; landing or taking off from the wrong runway or even taxiway is something entirely different.

 

Why is this even news???

 

It happened in September....not from a few days ago.....

 

It's news because......

1) The media is "ambulance chasing" most airports now.

2) They were loaded.

3) Is this an error that should have been made? Especially with no lights on the runway?



With an answer I ask for an answer......

Is it aviation got more dangerous or is it more mistakes are being reported?

 

The controller may have jumped the gun. The direction we come in from automatically lines you up for 17... they may have been getting ready to shimmy over to the base. There are a couple PNS controllers that are horrendous. I haven't heard the real story from the crew.

 

But who is to say it is an error?? Could it be that they were lined up for the wrong runway because that is the direction they were coming from?? They were 4 miles out, now I dont know much about how these things work with the bigger aircraft, but I'm not in a landing configuration 4 miles out.

They did not land on the runway, they landed on the correct runway. Could it be that the controller just happened to be "jumpy" with the recent Taxi-way landing, which is why he issued the clearance? Possibly? The real question is whether or not the crew planned on landing on the closed runway.

If they were 4 miles out and not in a landing configuration (which I dont know), then my guess is that they were not planning on landing there and just happened to be coming from that direction and probably getting ready to maneuvar to land on the other runway.

 

I would think in that aircraft you better be close to landing config at 4miles

 

Like I said I don't know when they have to be in a landing configuration, and how far out they are when they are in that configuration. I also don't know what approach they were doing, which my explain why they were aligned with the wrong runway.

However I still dont see why it is news worthy, the fact is that nothing happened. They landed on the correct runway, whether or not they would have had the controller not said something is up to debate, and something we cannot possibly know.

 

Around 4 miles we are either fully configured (gear down, flaps 45, Vref+5) or are close to calling for it... Maneuvering configuration would be Gear down, flaps 30, 160 knots.