A Delta Airlines flight from Minneapolis to Rapid City landed by mistake at an Air Force base instead of the airport. Paul International Airport to Rapid City, South Dakota landed at the wrong airport Thursday.
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A similar incident involving the same airports took place in 2004 when a Northwest Airlines flight also mistakenly landed at the Air Force base.
Oops: Some 130 Delta passengers were stuck on the tarmac for hours Thursday night after they were mistakenly taken to a military airport instead of a civilian one.
“Delta will work with the authorities and has already started an internal investigation”, said the airline in a statement, quoted by CNN.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating Thursday’s incident.
“The pilots of the Airbus A320 had been cleared to land at Rapid City Regional Airport”. They were ordered to keep their window shades down as military personnel walked through the cabin. It left Minneapolis at 8:03 p.m. and landed at Ellsworth Air Force Base at 8:44 p.m. “Safety is always Delta’s top priority”, the airline said.
The airport and the air force base are just a few miles apart, and their runways point in almost the same direction. She said one had a firearm and a dog.
In addition, the flight is followed by Air Traffic Control from the ground.
The pilots of that plane were eventually fired, according to media reports at the time, and the 117 passengers were offered free tickets to anywhere in the continental United States.
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Pilots on occasion have landed at the wrong runways, sparking reviews by regulators. Many of these incidents occurred at night, with pilots reporting they were attracted by the runway lights of the first airport seen by the aircraft.
