The National Transportation Safety Board has laid the blame on pilot error for a Delta Air Lines jet mistakenly landing at an air force base.
The Delta flight from Minneapolis touched down at Ellsworth Air Force Base last year, which is located about six miles from its intended destination at Rapid City Airport.
The NTSB report cited past confusion as they both have runways that nearly line up, although the pilots were not at the correct altitude at the time and failed to make use of all the navigation information.
Delta’s own guidance for pilots flying the route advises to ‘use caution for Ellsworth Air Force base located 6 miles northwest of Rapid City Regional.’
The crew realised their mistake at the very last minute but this was too late to abort the landing.
The pilot involved retired shortly afterwards and the first officer underwent retraining and is now back on active duty, Delta spokesman Michael Thomas said.
Associated Press research found there have been about 150 incidents of aircraft either landing or starting a descent at the wrong airport since the 1990s.
