The National Transportation Safety Board reportedly gave pilots a refresher Wednesday about not flying airplanes to the wrong airport according to CNBC.
"The consequences for pilots mistaking a nearby airport for the intended one, or landing on the wrong runway or a taxiway, can have catastrophic consequences," Deborah Hersman chairman at the National Transportation Safety Board said in a statement CNBC reported.
The Federal Aviation Administration made voice dialogue available in the past week with a pilot of a Southwest Airlines flight, and person in air traffic control during the airline's landing at a different airport than what was originally planned Jan. 12.
"I assume I'm not at your airport," the pilot told the air traffic controller according to the recording CNBC reported.
"Flight 4013, have you landed?" "Yes," the pilot said according to the recording CNBC reported.
The 124 passengers on Southwest Airlines flight 4013 had planned to travel from Midway International Airport in Chicago to Hollister, MO, but rather flew into Taney County Airport also known as M. Graham Clark Downtown Airport in Branson, MO the AP reported. The airport's runway measures 3,738 feet according to the airport's website. Branson's airport runway measures 7,140 feet its website reported.
"As soon as we touched down the pilot applied the brake very hard and very forcibly," Scott Schieffer, a 36-year-old attorney from Dallas told KSPR. "I thought, 'Well, this is a very short runway and this must be how he has to land," Schieffer told KSPR. "I was wearing a seatbelt but I was lurched forward because of the heavy pressure of the brake. You could smell burnt rubber, a very distinct smell of burnt rubber as we were stopping," Schieffer told KSPR."It was surreal when I realized we could have been in real danger and instead of an inconvenience, it could have been a real tragedy.
