summary
- A Latin American flight between Sao Paulo and San Jose nearly landed at the wrong airport due to a GPS mismatch, but the crew quickly realized the mistake and began a go-around.
- This incident is not unique, as there have been cases of planes landing at the wrong airport in the past, including in Brazil and the United States.
Latin America/Brazil flight LA4640, flying between São Paulo Guarulhos International Airport (GRU) and So José do Rio Preto Airport (SJP), almost ended up at the wrong airport after the crew reported a GPS discrepancy. I almost did it.
arrive at the wrong airport
Remember the online joke about putting up big signs outside a particular airport with the names of other airports to confuse passengers if they land in the wrong place? Well, this time it’s Latin American Airlines. almost landed in the wrong place. However, there was no prankster behind this incident.
The incident occurred on November 14, The Aviation Herald reported. The aircraft involved was an Airbus A320-200 registration PR-MHM operating flight LA4640 between São Paulo Guarulhos and São Jose do Rio Preto.
While approaching Sao Jose do Rio Preto, the crew reported encountering a GPS discrepancy. Shortly thereafter, the crew informed controllers that they had begun the RNAV approach procedure to San Jose, but they were too far away to communicate with the tower, so controllers returned them to the approach frequency.
Photo: FlightRadar24
After resuming communication with approach controllers, the pilot again contacted the San Jose tower frequency. They announced that they were now beginning a 360-degree downward turn towards the airport. Once again, the airport tower controller sent on the approach frequency, but this time the crew stated that the airport was in sight.
It was then that San Jose controllers explained to the pilot of LA 4640 that they were approaching Catanduba Airfield, approximately 53 miles from San Jose.
Photo: FlightRadar24
Realizing their mistake, the crew began a go-around at approximately 1,000 feet, contacted the approach path, and positioned themselves at the correct airport for a safe landing.
Shortly after, the LATAM flight landed at the correct airport without incident.
More incidents like this will occur
Although it doesn’t happen every day, there have been incidents in the past where planes landed at the wrong airport due to some type of accident. A similar thing happened in Brazil in the past.
In 2011, an Azul Linhas Aéreas Embraer ERJ-195 operating flight AD9136 from Fortaleza to Teresina landed in Timón, approximately 3.1 nautical miles from its actual destination. The crew realized their mistake, set off again, and completed the voyage with just a 20-minute delay.
Photo: Thiago B. Trevisan | Shutterstock
In 2014, a Southwest Airlines flight failed to arrive at its destination. The flight, operated by a Boeing 737-700, was scheduled to land at Branson Airport, a major commercial runway near Branson, Missouri. Instead, it landed at M. Graham Clark Downtown Airport, about 11 miles from its real destination. There were 124 passengers on the plane.
However, this is not everything! There are many other incidents like this, and we recently published a brief history of flights that landed at the wrong airport. Please check it.
Do you know of any other incidents where commercial planes almost landed at the wrong airport? Let us know in the comments below.
sauce: aviation herald, flight radar 24.