Regardless of landing at the wrong airport I have to give the pilot some respect for landing a 737 on a 3700' runway. I have met people who feel that is short for a 172.

Southwest Flight Lands At GA Airport

A Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-700 with 129 people aboard landed at the wrong airport in Branson, MO early Sunday evening but the airline is calling the unexpected arrival "uneventful." Flight 4013 from Chicago Midway put down on Runway 12/30 (3738X100) at M. Graham Clark Downtown Airport a little after 6 p.m. local time instead of hitting Runway 14/32 (7140X100)at Branson Airport about nine miles south. "Our ground crew from the Branson airport has arrived at the airport to take care of our customers and their baggage,'' Southwest spokesman Brad Hawkins said. "The landing was uneventful, and all customers and crew are safe.''


Weather was good at the time and while the minimum landing distance for the aircraft is clearly something less than the 3,738 feet available at the downtown field, the airplane specs call for more than 5,000 for a takeoff. There were unconfirmed reports quoting a passenger as saying the aircraft stopped close to the edge of a cliff. An image taken at the scene shows the airplane parked on the threshold marks. There appear to be dropoffs at each end of the runway. The passengers were apparently being accommodated by the airline but it's not clear whether the aircraft has left the field. Branson was an intermediate stop on the flight, which was to terminate in Dallas. The airline is expected to elaborate on the incident Monday.

More pilots job hunting

Local news says another pilot flew it out this morning. I agree that the pilot who got the airport wrong is a good pilot. He evidently always lands as short as practicable. Both ends are cliffs, the SE is the worst. Pretty similar to Farmington, NM, except for the vegetation. I have never been comfortable with landing fast and long just because there is a lot of runway.

Most modern Boing type jet transport aircraft should touch down from the runway threshold at 1500' +/- 500' as all landing distance performance data is based on this. Autolands are based on a touchdown point of 2100' from the runway threshold.

In airline operations you do not land as short as practicable. You always aim for the same touch down point. I agree landing fast and long is bad at least for an airliner. I disagree that the pilot was a good pilot.

If I had been in back, I would have been glad he didn't use the autoland and that he chose to use the -500' rather than the +500.' The +500' would have put them nose down on HWY 65.

If I had been in the back, I would have been glad if he would have been go-around on short final and didn't land.