With the last C-17 Globemaster III left the former headquarters of McDonnell Douglas in 2015, a chapter was closed in aviation history, but what a way to end it. The C-17 deserves plenty of respect: it is an excellent cargo aircraft, one that can do the majority of the C-5 Galaxy’s work, including hauling an M-1 Abrams tank, land in austere conditions, and cruise like any other Boeing aircraft. It is also surprisingly maneuverable and powerful for a large four-engined jet and has excellent short take-off and landing potential. Which turned out to be a very good thing in July 2012, when a C-17 on a flight from Italy mistook Peter O’Knight Regional Airport in the Davis Islands near Tampa, Florida.
Things were going bad from the start: one of the flight crew left his phone in a taxi and as a result of worrying, didn’t sleep well. Then there was the twelve hour flight itself, and a mid-air refueling that took every ounce of concentration the crew had to do safely and properly. By the time the cargo jet was entering Florida airspace, everybody in the cockpit was fatigued and ready for the big bird to touch ground, and that’s where the problems started occurring. The pilot initially believed that he saw MacDill Air Force Base, only to be corrected by his co-pilot who informed him that he was instead looking at Peter O’Knight. In reality, both men were wrong: Airport #1 was actually Tampa Executive Airport, and the airport they were lining up for was not MacDill. The rest has since wound up being part of YouTube lore:
Now, a quick bit of information: The runway length at Peter O’Knight is approximately 3,580 feet long. A C-17 Globemaster III can officially use a runway 3,000 feet long, but normally needs at least 3,500 feet or more, because the shorter the distance, the more stress is placed on the aircraft, the lighter the weight must be, and the pilots must be on top of their “A” game, not fried after a twelve-hour flight from Italy. That being said, the pilots were commended for the control of the aircraft on the suddenly-too-small runway, and by none other than one of their passengers: Marine General James A. Mattis, who later said, “Some young guys made a human error and hopefully they’ll recover and enjoy long and illustrious careers,” in an email to the Tampa Bay Times.
So, no harm, no foul, right? Effectively, yes. Other than having the regional airport closed to traffic, which the Air Force compensated, and the time needed to lighten up the C-17 for takeoff, there really was no issue and the big bird took off with no issue.
The military getting lost………….oh dear.
Idiots. 3500′ is pretty damn short, lucky they didn’t go off the end and kill everybody. For a pilot of such a big a/c to not realize he’s about to land on such a short strip is unreal. And to not go around is almost criminal.
mistaking an unfamiliar airport for another is not hard to do, just finding the airport sometimes is tricky, for some airports even just finding that rotating green light (the airport beacon) in itself is tough even when you’re really close to it, as the lights of the surrounding area (building, streets, industry, etc) crowd your view. Until you’re setup in the end of your glide slope, only then do you see the glide slope landing lights clearly (the lights that tell a pilot if they’re lined up correctly, they change color depending on your height), at that point you’re just focused on coming in on the money, not too high, not too low, and making sure your ground speed and flaps and everything else is correct. You wouldn’t notice you’re at the wrong airport until you’ve touched down and on the brakes, there isn’t necessarily enough time for a ‘going around’ at that point, it’s not a touch ‘n go scenario where you’re say, unable to land because of high side winds, you just get back in the throttle and go around. As far as they knew, they were at the right airport, hit the number on landing (the runway marker number at the beginning of the runway), and followed landing procedure to slow the aircraft down. They probably didn’t know the runway was too short until they were almost coming to a complete stop, as the C-17 (obviously) can land at that length. The airport they landed it is only a couple miles away from the airport they were planning on landing at, and a couple of miles is nothing when you’re at a plane at those speeds. The tower sees you on the scope coming in, they gave you clearance to land, and everything seems fine to everyone. A couple of miles between the airports is the problem, they’re too close to each other. The same mistake happened at that same airport before by equally experienced pilots, flying a Boeing 727… it, unlike the C-17, could not take off on such a short runway, and had to be dismantled in pieces and trucked out. That pilot and crew, obviously have the skills, but even the best pilots sometimes get problems thrown at them that are unexpected. This was just one of those scenarios.
I hear ya but there are 2 guys in that cockpit. I fly into a 4500′ strip in a F900 and a global all the time and thats pretty short, you’re on the brakes pretty hard . And you better get it on the ground asap. If it was at night or bad weather i could understand, but on a vfr day to not realize how short that was is pretty piss poor. To drop that a/c on a 3500′ strip and just say oops would get you fired anywhere i’ve ever worked. Look out the damn windshield!!
A military aircraft landed at the wrong airport?
My God, where to begin with what a colossal screw up this is.
No input from any diligent air traffic control, whether civilian or military? No communication from air to ground? How could this possibly happen?
This is frightening.
Peter O Knight airport and MacDill AFB are only a couple miles apart, and have a similar layout and alignment. Confusing them has happened before, though a plane that large was a first.
Damn good piloting… navigation took a hit…. but that was some piloting. I also think the “minimum take off distance” is like the hp figures of the 60s…