B737, vicinity Branson MO USA, 2014

B737, vicinity Branson MO USA, 2014

Summary

On 12 January 2014, a Boeing 737-700 making a night visual approach to Branson advised 'field in sight' approximately 20 miles out and was transferred to TWR and given landing clearance at approximately 6,000 feet. However, the crew had misidentified the airport and subsequently landed on a similarly-orientated runway at a different airport. The Investigation found that required flight crew procedures for such an approach had not been followed and also that applicable ATC procedures for approval of visual approaches by IFR flights were conducive to pilot error in the event that airports were located in close proximity.

Description

On 12 January 2014, a Boeing 737-700 (N272WN) being operated by Southwest Airlines on a scheduled passenger flight from Chicago Midway IL to Branson MO as SWA4013 was given clearance when in night VMC to land on runway 14 at destination after its crew had reported 'field in sight'. The aircraft subsequently landed on the much shorter runway 12 at the uncontrolled M Graham Clark Downtown Airport, stopping 90 metres from its end after leaving evidence of heavy braking being used towards the end of the landing roll. There were no injuries to the 131 occupants and the aircraft was undamaged.

Investigation

An Investigation was carried out by the NTSB. The 2 hour CVR and FDR were removed from the aircraft and their data were successfully downloaded. It was noted that the CVR was deactivated about 53 minutes after the landing.

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