Dreamliner lands at wrong Wichita airport

[MoValley John]

And KCShocker11 would blame Bush.

[ShockBand]

Well, MVJ, they got lucky in that the takeoff conditions were about as good as one could hope. Cold, heavy air but above freezing (so no wing icing issues) and nice 20 mph headwind to take off into. I'm sure they probably did a full throttle brakes takeoff as well, it would have been fun to see the jet wash behind that on K-96. It took off using barely more than half of the 6100 foot runway, so I'm guessing they had HCGM give the pilots and/or the plane a halftime pep talk like he has had to give after our patented "meh" first half performances this year.

[SB Shock]

Media (meh) - they were listing the takeoff distance at 9,100 ft (but that is for MTOW). Like they would have attempted a takeoff if there wasn't 100% chance they could make it. The real story is the landing and how many shorts that had to be changed.

From what I have heard is Jabara's runway lights are off unless somebody is scheduled to land and just prior a customer had landed. Had the timing been different the lights would have been off and they probably would have realized that they chosen the wrong airport in their FMS.

[DUShock]

There are some hellish skid marks at AAO 18.

[WstateU]

[ABC]

Could a pilot please explain "full throttle brakes" - that term is a bit confusing.

[SB Shock]

There are some hellish skid marks at AAO 18.

Is that where the pilots decided to deposit their underwear and go commando?

[SB Shock]

Could a pilot please explain "full throttle brakes" - that term is a bit confusing.

Think about how as kid you would hold your brakes on you '66 Camero while putting the pedal to the floor to impress everybody

[shoxlax]

This thread is kind of a letdown. I fully expected this thing to go all aviation geek. Wichita is the air capital, isn't it? This was a national news story about an airplane in the air capital, wasn't it? There are many private pilots on this board, aren't there? Aviation engineers? Plane geeks?

I was hoping this thread evolved into a discussion on how many takeoffs and landings are done before a 747 gets new tires, best, worst and funniest aviation story. But most of all, I expected a discussion on Bernoulli's principle.

Instead, it was, "Yeah, the runway is short. Yeah, it took off. Whatever."

MVJ:

I think the aviation geeks are embarrassed for their profession. Or maybe it's just basketball season now and we don't want to put any deep thought into anything else?

[WstateU]

Think about how as kid you would hold your brakes on you '66 Camero while putting the pedal to the floor to impress everybody

Talk about "holding your brakes"...

[pogo]

I do think the most difficult part of the entire take off was the initial line up and control heading down the runway early until you had enough air moving over your control surfaces to control heading. I usually never had a problem with enough speed for take off since its all calculated to see what they set the catapult at. The deck crew always asked what your fuel was so they could calculate the total weight of the AC and then plug it into the catapult. You always told them about a 1,000#'s more so they would give it more boost. I never had a problem with the AC dropping below the deck on take off like you see in some of those old WWII movies. It is worth a dollar a ride in any amusement park. Arrested landings are a little more violent however. Both pilots and the engineer were probably standing on the brakes to slow the dog down at Jabara. Can you imagine calling in close air support and those clowns helping nine miles away from where they were supposed to be? Really how do you not know where you are with all of the instrumentation that they have now days. If Jabara has a rotating beacon at the site they would know it was a civilian runway and not military. They had to be landing to the south that night and they should have seen the beacon from McConnel AFB. A military beacon has a 5 degree break in the white part of the beacon which makes it look like a double flash. Civilian beacons only one light flash. These guys should never be allowed to pilot anything. Whoever trained them and whoever certified them should all have thorough background checks performed by multiple agencies.

[JJClamdip]

I do think the most difficult part of the entire take off was the initial line up and control heading down the runway early until you had enough air moving over your control surfaces to control heading. I usually never had a problem with enough speed for take off since its all calculated to see what they set the catapult at. The deck crew always asked what your fuel was so they could calculate the total weight of the AC and then plug it into the catapult. You always told them about a 1,000#'s more so they would give it more boost. I never had a problem with the AC dropping below the deck on take off like you see in some of those old WWII movies. It is worth a dollar a ride in any amusement park. Arrested landings are a little more violent however. Both pilots and the engineer were probably standing on the brakes to slow the dog down at Jabara. Can you imagine calling in close air support and those clowns helping nine miles away from where they were supposed to be? Really how do you not know where you are with all of the instrumentation that they have now days. If Jabara has a rotating beacon at the site they would know it was a civilian runway and not military. They had to be landing to the south that night and they should have seen the beacon from McConnel AFB. A military beacon has a 5 degree break in the white part of the beacon which makes it look like a double flash. Civilian beacons only one light flash. These guys should never be allowed to pilot anything. Whoever trained them and whoever certified them should all have thorough background checks performed by multiple agencies.

I agree.

[MoValley John]

I agree.

It wasn't the pilots, it was the Wichita tower.

I listened to the entire conversation between the tower and the plane. Not once did the tower ask, "What's your vector, Victor?"

[MoValley John]

You'd better tell the Captain we've got to land as soon as we can. This woman has to be gotten to a hospital.

[MoValley John]

Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue.