C-17 Lands at Peter O'Knight Airport.....Whoops!
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Thread: C-17 Lands at Peter O'Knight Airport.....Whoops!

  1. #1

    C-17 Lands at Peter O'Knight Airport.....Whoops!

    It is not unusual for a disoriented GA aircraft to inadvertently mistake MacDill AFB for Peter Knight municipal airport.....well, it happens every year or so.

    I've not heard of it being the other way around....until today.

    http://yfrog.com/mk7ekz



    I would add that the airstrip at MacDill is 14,000 feet long....Runway 22 at Peter O'Knight is 3400 feet long. The C-17 can safely come in on 3000 feet, but I suspect we still had to wipe off some really expensive seats. Not to mention the concrete at Peter O'Knight really wasn't laid to handle that kind of weight.
    Basic Flying Rules: "Try to stay in the middle of the air. Do not go near the edges of it. The edges of the air can be recognized by the appearance of ground, buildings, sea, trees and interstellar space. It is much more difficult to fly there."

  2. #2
    SOH Staff Tako_Kichi's Avatar
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    OOOPS!
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  3. #3
    From Wikipedia:

    The C-17 is designed to operate from runways as short as 3,500 ft (1,064 m) and as narrow as 90 ft (27 m).


    Guess we're going to find out if that's correct or not? :isadizzy:

    There's got to be more to this story, just got to be. Otherwise, I'd love to be a fly on the wall during the debriefing...

  4. #4
    I can just about garunttee you that the first place the Pilot went was the little boys or girls room to clean the dooopey out of their drawers, that while they were in there the aircraft Crew Chief (using ever curse word in the english language) was ordering Jacks, new tires, and brake binders, cause them brakes was probably glowing white when she finally stopped, cause all that smoke wasn't comin from those engines and the Load Master was on his hands and knees kissing every every binder on the cargo load thanking God they held. All joking aside
    The C-17 is designed to operate from runways as short as 3,500 ft (1,064 m) and as narrow as 90 ft (27 m).
    I don't pay a lot of attention to those figures because there are to many factors involved, such as fuel loads, cargo weight, etc; it will be interesting to see what the Air Force decides, to do fly it out, or mount it on a pedestal with one of those bronze plaques with the word "OPS" on it. Either way I'll bet you a "dollar to a donut" that the Pilot will ponder this small navigational error as he or she flys paper airplanes from their desk in base supply at least til the end of his or her enlistment.
    T Square

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  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by T Square View Post
    Either way I'll bet you a "dollar to a donut" that the Pilot will ponder this small navigational error as he or she flys paper airplanes from their desk in base supply at least til the end of his or her enlistment.
    My brain is fried a bit as I work through parsing of XML code... But! If it were a mistake, a horrible mistake, why wasn't a TOGA initiated? Looking down a 3,500' runway would be a little different than looking down an 11,000' runway, I would think? Unless the CFI I on board wasn't paying attention? The one time I looked at the video, the only time, it seemed like they wanted to land there. Looking at Google Earth, if they were headed out of MacDill AFB to the NE and had a problem, then it's Hey Look!, an airport.

    Hopefully TeaSea will play Paul Harvey and let us know "the rest of the story".


    Well just did a Google search and it appears the CFI was asleep and the plane subsequently made it's way out of Peter O'Knight airport. And checking Google, there are many neat ways to make cool paper airplanes, just to pass the time...

  6. #6
    Well, that isn't the dumbest thing I've seen a C-17 crew do, but it ranks up there. Automation does not beat the Mk.1 eyeball

    Jeff

  7. #7
    Redding Army Airfield Allen's Avatar
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    "Let Being Helpful Be More Important Than Being Right!" Some SOH Founder.

  8. #8
    About what seems like a hundred years ago when I started my Air Force career in SAC there was an old sayn' "SAC always forgives but never forgets". I am sure this is true to this day just change it from SAC to TAC, AMC, MAC, etc; whatever, and there's just as much paper in supply as there was then. Not having goggled the airport but just looking at the take-off looks like there was nothing but water past EOR, no risk to property or people if he didn't make it, might as well go for it. Wasn't much concrete left, when she finally broke free. One Aircrew that will shed many a tear in their beer when all is said and done.
    T Square

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  9. #9
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    and with room to spare! although not much:isadizzy:
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  10. #10
    Charter Member 2022 srgalahad's Avatar
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    I knew there would be a time for this...
    as a piece of research for a particular airport I found this article and it is oh, so appropos
    (click on the title)
    The Legacy of Douglas Corrigan: "Wrong Way" Landings By Commercial Airliners


    "To some the sky is the limit. To others it is home" anon.
    “Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.” -Albert Einstein


  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by srgalahad View Post
    I knew there would be a time for this...
    as a piece of research for a particular airport I found this article and it is oh, so appropos
    (click on the title)
    The Legacy of Douglas Corrigan: "Wrong Way" Landings By Commercial Airliners

    It's been a while now, but this used to happen quite a bit out here, usually GA traffic though.
    GPS has helped, I guess ...

    June 19, 2004 - The above-mentioned incident of a Northwest Airlines A319, bound for Rapid City, South Dakota (RAP), mistakenly landing at Ellsworth Air Force Base.

  12. #12
    Me thinks a certain C-17 driver will be doing a rug dance in front of their Commanding Officer's desk bright and early tomorrow, if they haven't already.

  13. #13
    It's not just GA aircraft, MacDill had at least one airliner land there and there was one pretty dramatic low approach by an airliner at Peter o Knight airport that I remember. Despite the entirely different runway headings they both thought they were approaching rw 36L/R at Tampa International.

  14. #14
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    http://www.wtsp.com/news/article/264...rport-in-Tampa

    Tampa, Fla.- The U.S. Air Force has yet to explain how a massive C-17 military cargo plane ended up landing at the wrong airport Friday.
    The plane bound for MacDill Air Force Base on the southern tip of Tampa accidently landed at the tiny Peter O. Knight Airport in the middle of homes on Davis Islands.Peter O. Knight is approximately four miles north of MacDill but significantly smaller in size.Witnesses and nearby homeowners near the airport, when the plane landed, say they could hardly believe their eyes and feared the aircraft may crash through the end of the small runway and end up in Tampa Bay."Two words: one starts with O and one starts with S," said Don Sipila, who guesses that's what was going through the pilot's mind moments after his C-17 touched down on the wrong runway."It was extremely loud, the wings were wavering a little bit because he was doing a curving type of thing. You could clearly see this was a maximum effort short field landing. You don't practice these things," said Sipila."We all thought he was going to go off the end. Clearly this was the wrong airport for this aircraft."Sipila, a pilot himself, suspects the massive cargo plane got clearance to land at MacDill and thought that's where he was landing."MacDill is about five miles right off the end of this runway and it has the same number: 22 lined up in the same direction. But it's 11,500 feet long ... as a pilot I could see it's a long runway. This is only 35-hundred feet!"Finally just before sunset, and after burning off several hours of fuel to lighten the plane's weight, the C-17 returned to the sky, taking off in a massive roar.Hundreds of area residents gathered along the airport's fence line and cheered the plane's lift off with the same suspense of a space shuttle launch.The Air Force has not released information on what caused the mix up or what might happen to the flight crew.Airport officials confirm there didn't seem to be any damage to the runway despite the much heavier than expected load.The airport was closed much of Friday evening as the C-17 blocked both runways.
    In fairness it highlights just how good the C-17 is at short field landings. Wonder what the cargo was?
    I fly because it releases my mind from the tyranny of petty things — Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

  15. #15
    Once in a C-130 from San Antonio to Tinker with an F4 engine locked down on a wheeled maintenance stand. Everything was fine til we landed at Tinker. On landing right main wheel locked up just secounds after touchdown. All I can tell you is this: it was one hell of a fast stop, lots of smoke, and burnt rubber. The other thing, that F-4 engine sat about maybe a foot and a half from my face, I never want to be that close to an F-4 engine again ever.

    In fairness it highlights just how good the C-17 is at short field landings. Wonder what the cargo was?
    If they had a mix of personnel and cargo which is the normal not the exception I would expect it was one hell of a landing and a very smooth lift off.
    T Square

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