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| rynner Location: Still above sea level Gender: Male |
 Posted: 30-03-2006 08:03 Post subject: Oops! The Silly Mistakes thread. |
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Do we already have a thread for silly mistakes that don't end in disaster?
| Quote: | Plane lands at airbase by mistake
A passenger jet which was destined for City of Derry Airport has landed at an Army base six miles away by mistake.
The Liverpool to Londonderry service, operated by Eirjet on behalf of Ryanair, landed at Ballykelly airstrip at 1440 BST.
Ryanair said in a statement it was due to an "error by the Eirjet pilot who mistakenly believed he was on a visual approach to City of Derry airport".
The 39 passengers were taken by coach from Ballykelly to the airport.
One of the passengers said everyone was completely surprised when they realised what had happened.
'Surreal'
He said: "The pilot apologised and said, 'We may have arrived at the wrong airport'.
"Everyone started laughing and thought it was a joke, then I saw for myself when I looked out and saw Army officers everywhere.
The plane had been destined for City of Derry Airport
"It was just unbelievable, I think the Army officers were shocked themselves (as) they were taking photographs. It was surreal."
Another passenger said they had to wait on the plane while stairs were brought from the airport.
"Unfortunately they didn't let us go down the slide," he added. [  ]
In its statement, Ryanair said it had notified the civil aviation authorities in the UK and Ireland of the incident.
"We have also asked Eirjet, the operator of the aircraft to carry out a full investigation into this matter, as in over seven years of Ryanair flights into City of Derry airport, and over 20 years of Ryanair-operated flights, such a mistake has never occurred before," it added.
The aircraft is estimated to be a 200-seater jet. The scheduled return flight to Liverpool was cancelled.
The airstrip at Ballykelly is primarily used by Army helicopters and light aircraft. It was built for huge military planes, making it one of the longest on the island.
It is not yet clear how the plane will be removed from the Army base.
In a statement, Eirjet said it would carry out a full investigation.
"Eirjet wish to stress that passenger safety was not compromised and the incident involved the aircraft landing at a runway which is exactly in line with the main runway at City of Derry Airport," it said.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/4857962.stm
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Last edited by rynner on 20-04-2008 09:27; edited 1 time in total |
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ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17657 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 30-03-2006 11:17 Post subject: Probe into 'wrong runway' error |
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| Quote: |
Probe into 'wrong runway' error
The government's air accident investigation branch is expected to ask for details of why a commercial airliner landed at a military airfield.
Investigators will focus on why the pilots failed to identify the correct airfield despite clear weather and warnings about the Ballykelly airstrip.
They outline the possibility of confusion in flight manuals over the airports, which are five miles apart.
Ballykelly and City of Derry runways are aligned in the same direction.
Eirjet, which was operating a flight from Liverpool on Wednesday on behalf of Ryanair, apologised but said the safety of the 39 passengers was not compromised.
Eirjet said the incident "involved the aircraft landing at a runway exactly in line" with the airport's runway.
Human beings are fallible - from simple things like putting teabags in a milk jug to the other end of the spectrum of landing at the wrong runway
Captain Mervyn Granshaw
British Air Line Pilots' Association
On Thursday, the manager of City of Derry Airport said it was too early to conclude what the reason was for the incident.
Seamus Devine said it may have been a case of the pilot relying on what he could see, rather than on his instruments.
"An error took place somewhere and an aircraft ended up at an airfield it shouldn't have gone into," said Mr Devine, who was a pilot for 20 years.
He added: "A pilot looks at the window, sees a runway, the human instinct - the visual cortex - takes over and you see a runway immediately below you, distrust your instruments, and go around and land on that runway."
'Plug those gaps'
Captain Mervyn Granshaw, chairman of the British Air Line Pilots' Association, said there were several reasons why such an incident could occur.
"Clearly, it is a very worrying issue," he said.
"Human beings are fallible - from simple things like putting teabags in a milk jug to the other end of the spectrum of landing at the wrong runway.
"We know this in aviation, but we try to put in place processes, checks, balances to make sure we plug all those gaps."
In over seven years of Ryanair flights into City of Derry airport, and over 20 years of Ryanair-operated flights, such a mistake has never occurred before
Ryanair
Ryanair said in a statement it was due to an "error by the Eirjet pilot who mistakenly believed he was on a visual approach to City of Derry airport".
The passengers were taken by coach from Ballykelly to the airport.
The airstrip at Ballykelly is primarily used by Army helicopters and light aircraft.
It was built for huge military planes, making it one of the longest on the island.
Eirjet said it would begin a full investigation, working in consultation with the Department of Transport, the Irish Aviation Authority and the Civil Aviation Authority.
The airline said it placed "paramount importance on passenger safety".
Ryanair said it would be carrying out its own investigation into the incident.
In a statement, the company said: "In over seven years of Ryanair flights into City of Derry airport, and over 20 years of Ryanair-operated flights, such a mistake has never occurred before."
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/northern_ireland/4859716.stm
Published: 2006/03/30 06:41:37 GMT
© BBC MMVI
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| rynner Location: Still above sea level Gender: Male |
| Posted: 30-03-2006 18:06 Post subject: |
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We have to ask what Air Traffic Control were doing when this happened.
Didn't they notice the plane wasn't coming to the right place?
According to a video report (currently accessible via http://news.bbc.co.uk/ ) other pilots have sympathy with the crew, and have posted messages of support on a pilot's website. |
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| Soong2 I am Soong, not a number
Lord of the Ales Joined: 20 Sep 2003 Total posts: 693 Location: Trinity Bay Age: 42 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 30-03-2006 18:16 Post subject: |
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Nice story. 
But.
Whats the point having gate guards and perimiter fences at military bases, if it is possible to turn up un-announced with a 200 seater aircraft and touch down?
Even if the ATC bods were on the ball, surely the tower at Derry must have noticed the plane on final approach was not in the air above the downwind end of the runway?? |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17657 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 30-03-2006 18:22 Post subject: |
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oops indeed! i didnt notice this was up and put it in mainstream.
if this had happened at a time of high alert then maybe the soldiers would have taken some action eg surrounded it with armoured cars. |
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| Soong2 I am Soong, not a number
Lord of the Ales Joined: 20 Sep 2003 Total posts: 693 Location: Trinity Bay Age: 42 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 30-03-2006 19:04 Post subject: |
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| ramonmercado wrote: | | ...soldiers would have taken some action eg surrounded it with armoured cars. |
It is at times like these that I miss the military simulator I had on the old Amiga: Place a fully loaded transport on the runway, surround with a full compliment of defending soldiers and press GO.
Aaaah, BOOM |
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| WhistlingJack Joined: 29 Oct 2003 Total posts: 4296 Location: The Sewers of The Strand Age: 9 Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 31-03-2006 10:40 Post subject: |
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| Have you tried looking here - hol.abime.net - Soong2? |
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| ProfessorF Great Old One Joined: 09 Aug 2005 Total posts: 336 Location: Ulan Bator - inside my head looking out Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 31-03-2006 11:00 Post subject: |
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| It reminds me a little of the Royal Marines invading La Linea beach back in 2002. |
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| Soong2 I am Soong, not a number
Lord of the Ales Joined: 20 Sep 2003 Total posts: 693 Location: Trinity Bay Age: 42 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 31-03-2006 13:11 Post subject: |
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| WhistlingJack wrote: | | Have you tried looking here - hol.abime.net - Soong2? |
Wow, ta, that should keep me busy for a while |
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| rynner Location: Still above sea level Gender: Male |
| Posted: 14-02-2008 08:25 Post subject: |
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Two Newcastles, one £2.7m Whitehall mix-up
Last Updated: 1:49am GMT 14/02/2008
Bungling Whitehall officials got their Newcastles mixed up and gave £2.7 million meant for the North East city to its namesake in the Potteries.
Newcastle-under-Lyme, population 74,000, was handed the cash instead of Newcastle upon Tyne, the regional capital of the North East. And the Staffordshire market town is refusing to hand back its windfall from the Department for Communities and Local Government, saying it was accepted in good faith.
"We assumed it was in recognition of the work we've done to encourage business," said Simon Tagg, the borough council leader.
"We have no intention of giving the money back at this stage. We can't hand over £2 million just like that." 
Nearly 200 miles away, John Shipley, the Liberal Democrat leader of Newcastle upon Tyne City Council, said: "It was an astonishing error by a Whitehall department."
The cash came from a pot of money to be given back to councils that had increased the amount they took in business rates. In fact, the hand-out had been paid to the wrong Newcastle for two years.
Geordie council officers challenged the amount they had received from the Local Authority Business Growth Incentive a year ago but were told that no mistake had been made.
Mr Shipley said: "Local government is regularly accused by central government of inefficiency.
"Now we have a major Whitehall department that doesn't know the difference between Newcastle-under-Lyme and Newcastle upon Tyne."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/02/14/newcastle114.xml |
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| rynner Location: Still above sea level Gender: Male |
| Posted: 16-03-2008 08:14 Post subject: |
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Balloon lost in the sky with diamond
By Natalie Paris
Last Updated: 2:36am GMT 16/03/2008
It had seemed a romantic and highly original way to propose to the love of your life with a £6,000 diamond ring.
Lefkos Hajji, 28, wanted to make his engagement one his girlfriend would never forget, only to have his dreams cruelly snatched from his grasp by a gust of wind.
Rather than simply dropping to one knee before Leanne, 26, he told a florist to put her engagement ring in a silver helium balloon.
But no sooner had he left the shop when his plans backfired spectacularly and the balloons blew away - taking the ring with them.
Keeping his prize in sight, Mr Hajji, from Hackney, London, pursued the balloons for two hours in his car across London before giving them up as lost.
He told the Sun newspaper: "I couldn't believe it. I just watched as it went further and further into the air.
"I felt like such a plonker. It cost a fortune and I knew my girlfriend would kill me.
"I though I would give Leanne a pin so I could literally pop the question."
While Mr Hajji hopes the ring will still turn up, his girlfriend, as he suspected, was apparently less than impressed.
Florist Helen Savva, of Cockfosters, London, told the newspaper: "I thought he was taking a risk. I said, 'I hope you hold onto it'."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/14/nballoon114.xml |
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| escargot1 Joined: 24 Aug 2001 Total posts: 17709 Location: Farkham Hall Age: 3 Gender: Female |
| Posted: 16-03-2008 08:27 Post subject: |
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| Soong2 wrote: |
Whats the point having gate guards and perimiter fences at military bases, if it is possible to turn up un-announced with a 200 seater aircraft and touch down?
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All runways are ready to accept unscheduled landings in emergencies. In this case it was lucky that the ground was clear enough for it. |
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| ElishevaBarsabe Really?!
Great Old One Joined: 19 Mar 2002 Total posts: 942 Location: in the fog Gender: Female |
| Posted: 17-03-2008 19:31 Post subject: Re: Oops! |
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| rynner wrote: | Do we already have a thread for silly mistakes that don't end in disaster?
| Quote: | Plane lands at airbase by mistake
A passenger jet which was destined for City of Derry Airport has landed at an Army base six miles away by mistake.
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The flight between Phoenix, Arizona and Tucson, Arizona takes 20 to 30 minutes, but on this eye-red with just the flight crew and myself aboard, I heard the engines reversing after about 15 minutes, so I looked out the window and saw several long lines of blue lights and that we were descending.
About the moment I thought, "ah crap not into the ag field!", the pilot must have noticed, instead of the tarmac, the several thousand nearly mature plants belonging to the UofArizona's experimental agricultural field: I could see them far too clearly, myself.
The engines reversed again, the plane pulled upward doing some amazing Gs, and we got to the Tucson airport 10 minutes later with no further problem.
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Different flight, pilot did land in a military airbase, but on purpose. The small commercial plane I was on ran into a strong headwind and lost too much fuel to finish the flight.
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Last story. When I was little, my father was stationed in Hawaii. When we flew out to join him, the headwind was so strong that the pilot took the plane down to just above the ocean's surface (no, not a jet, Hawaii Mars #2 (http://www.aerofiles.com/martin-jrm1.jpg and video at YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cN5PY91sO7A).
As a toddler, I thought the view was great, but the adults were obviously worried. Nevertheless, we got to the island, and, in essence, rolled directly onto the runway.
Last edited by ElishevaBarsabe on 25-03-2008 23:07; edited 1 time in total |
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| rynner Location: Still above sea level Gender: Male |
| Posted: 18-03-2008 08:35 Post subject: |
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Wild things invade dealer's home
A Newcastle wheeler-dealer thought he would be quids-in when he spotted 25 model animals for sale on the internet.
Joe Osbourne from Walker, clinched the deal but had no idea of the true size of the beasts until they arrived.
Now he has near life-sized zebras in his kitchen, a 9ft giraffe in his hallway and elephants in the bedroom.
The deal and importing fees from India are thought to have cost Mr Osbourne more than £1,000. But he is remaining tight-lipped about the final figure.
The 54-year-old said: "I am a bit mad and I like a challenge, but this a challenge that has even beaten me.
"It was just something I saw on the web to make a few quid, but I didn't think it through and I've ended up with a house full of animals which nobody wants.
"When you see a picture that says they are 2ft long by 2ft high it doesn't seem that big, but when it's 3ft wide it's a bit too much.
"I have spent quite a lot - lets say more than a pound and less than a million - but the real figure is my secret."
Mr Osbourne hopes the publicity will persuade potential buyers to come forward.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tyne/7301789.stm
(Link to video on page) |
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| rynner Location: Still above sea level Gender: Male |
| Posted: 23-03-2008 21:00 Post subject: |
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Cathedral emptied by Easter fire
Norwich's Anglican cathedral had to be evacuated midway through an Easter service as candles set off fire alarms.
The 400-strong congregation lit candles at the Saturday evening service to symbolise Jesus's resurrection but as the flames grew fire alarms sounded.
Revd Jan McFarlane, of the Diocese of Norwich, said the congregation were ushered out and the fire service arrived somewhat bemused.
The cathedral was not damaged and the service was able to continue.
Revd McFarlane said: "New Christians were baptised and confirmed by the Bishop of Norwich and the cathedral was filled with light from the candles and incense, but sadly it was all a bit too much for the fire detection system and half-way through the Eucharistic prayer we were interrupted by the fire alarm and an automated voice telling us to evacuate the cathedral.
"Clearly fire detection systems can't cope with the Resurrection of Jesus!
"The congregation of around 400 were ushered out of the cathedral and the fire brigade arrived in minutes.
"They looked somewhat bemused to be greeted by the Bishop and the Dean in full vestments, but they were soon able to establish that there wasn't a fire, and the service resumed."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/norfolk/7310559.stm |
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