B-747 Dreamlifter Makes A Clean Takeoff After
Landing At The Wrong Airport
By
Eddy Metcalf
November 21, 2013 - This afternoon a Boeing
747-400 Dreamlifter was able to make a safe
takeoff after landing at the wrong airport. On
Wednesday night Flight 4241 which is one of a
fleet of four and operated by Atlas Air was
suppose to land at McConnell Air Force Base
instead the 747 landed at Colonel James Jabara
Airport (KAAO) at 9:20 PM CST.
The Boeing 747-400 Dreamlifter which is a
modified aircraft and is used exclusively to
transport Boeing’s 787 aircraft parts to its
assembly plants from suppliers around the world
departed John F Kennedy International Airport at
7:26 PM for McConnell Air Force Base, Kansas.
At about 9 PM, Flight 4241 on its final approach
for McConnell Air Force Base was cleared to land
on runway 19. As the pilots approached the
airport they had mistaken Colonel James Jabara
Airport for McConnell Air Force Base. Both
airports which are about 10 miles apart from
each other have almost the same runway
alignments. On the final approach path Flight
4241 landed on runway 18 at Colonel James Jabara
Airport.
Upon landing the pilots on Flight 4241 could be
herd on the radio with ATC requesting
information on the landing. It appears
the pilot was confused.
This was clearly an unsafe landing for 747. Had
there been landing or departing aircraft at
Colonel James Jabara Airport at the time it
could have been disastrous. In addition the
Boeing 747-400 Dreamlifter requires a runway of
7,000 feet to land at maximum landing weight but
the runway at Colonel James Jabara Airport was
only 6,101 feet long.
Flight 4241 sat on the runway Wednesday night
while Boeing could come up with the right
calculations for takeoff, as the Boeing 747-400
requires a minimum of 9,199 foot runway for
takeoff at maximum takeoff weight. On Thursday
Boeing was able to come up with the calculations
needed. Fuel was drained from the tanks and at
1:16 PM Flight 4241 departed Colonel James
Jabara Airport safely and landed at McConnell
Air Force Base at 1:35 PM.
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