Northwest jet lands at U.S. air base by mistake; passengers told not to peek

Casshew

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ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - A Northwest Airlines flight that was headed to Rapid City, S.D., landed a few kilometres off course at Ellsworth Air Force Base, and passengers had to wait in the plane for more than three hours while their crew was interrogated.

Passengers on Northwest Flight 1152, an Airbus A-319 from St. Paul, expected to be welcomed to Rapid City Regional Airport on Saturday, but after about five minutes they were told to close their window shades and not look out, said passenger Robert Morrell.

"He (the pilot) hemmed and he hawed and he said 'We have landed at an air force base a few miles from the Rapid City airport and now we are going to figure out how we're going to get from here to there,' " Morrell told the St. Paul Pioneer Press by cellphone during the delay Saturday.
Eventually, the captain and first officer were replaced by a different Northwest crew for the short hop to the right airport.

Northwest confirmed that the crew made an "unscheduled landing."

"The situation is under review and we have nothing further to add," said Northwest spokesman Kurt Ebenhoch. He would not identify the cockpit crew, or say if the pilot made an error.

Ellsworth controls all air space 65 kilometres around the base and clears landings at both the civilian airport and the base.

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/WeirdNews/2004/06/20/507646-ap.html
 
:eek: Cass. The pilot and copilot of this flight now know how the captain of the Titanic, and the captain of the Statten Island ferry(who plowed into the wharf in N.Y.) must have felt. :confused: What would you guess the chances of these two ever flying again are?
The call home:
Pilot: Hi hon! Going to be a bit late tonight as I have had a bad day which is going to involve a bit of paperwork.
Wife: So I have been told by half of our neighborhood.
Pilot: Will you wait up for me?
Wife: Of coarse I will, with ever major news network in the media outside, what choice do I have?
 
You have to admit ~ it's pretty bad when a 'commercial' airliner with transponders, gps, radar, VTOL and all the rest lands at the WRONG airport!!!!

:slap:
 
I think they are lucky they didn't get shot down in the new era of suspicions of terrorists everywhere.

Scary though. How in the world did they manage to get lost? Remind me to never fly Northwest Airlines. Obviously their pilots could use some remedial training.
 

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