Fairbanks Controller Prevents Wrong Airport Landing
An FAA air traffic controller’s quick actions helped prevent a medevac flight mistakenly land on a military runway.
By C. Troxell, FAA Communications
FAA Air Traffic Controller Tim Stein exhibited outstanding awareness while working radar at Fairbanks Tower/TRACON on July 28, 2020 — preventing an active medevac aircraft from landing at a nearby military air base instead of its destination airport located in the interior of Alaska.
The aircraft was inbound to Fairbanks from the southeast for a visual approach. The pilot reported the field in sight, and Stein cleared the aircraft for approach about four miles southeast of Ladd Army Airfield and 10 miles east of Fairbanks. Stein then transferred the aircraft to Fairbanks Tower control upon the pilot’s request.
Then, suddenly, Stein noticed the aircraft descending rapidly toward the Army airfield, and he immediately notified Fairbanks Tower to issue a go-around.
“It seemed odd that he had asked to change to the tower,” Stein said. “It kind of got my attention, and then he turned toward the wrong runway. That’s when I called the tower and said, send the medevac around.”
The aircraft came within about 200 feet of the runway at Ladd Airfield before the tower issued the go-around. The pilot came back around and made a safe approach and landing at Fairbanks Airport, as intended.
Although uncommon, Fairbanks controllers have seen this happen before with the two airfields being in close proximity of each other.
A four-year controller, Stein said that on-the-job training has helped him remain alert and attentive to safety risks like this one, which was not even on his frequency.
“Just because it’s not on my frequency doesn’t necessarily mean it’s not my problem,” he said. “Continuing to monitor the situation was something I’ve been taught all along through my training.”
Fairbanks Air Traffic Manager Cody Webb was working from Fairbanks Tower during the event and was impressed with Stein’s swift action to correct the pilot: “This is a great example of heightened situational awareness and not succumbing to drift. Tim serves as a shining example of what it means to be a professional air traffic controller.”
Even with today’s highly accurate technology, pilots can still misidentify their airport of intended landing, particularly with airports near one another. Watch this video from the FAA’s From the Flight Deck video series to learn how to avoid this dangerous error.
