Captain Is Back On Flying Status

The pilot serving as first officer on the Southwest Flight that landed at the wrong airport in Branson, MO has retired, according to the airline, while the captain of the flight has been returned to flying status.

The Associated Press reports that both had been placed on paid leave following the incident, which saw them land their Boeing 737 at Clark Airport (KPLK) rather than Branson Airport (KBBG) in January. The two airports are about seven miles apart. KPLK has a much shorter runway than does KBBG.

No one was injured in the incident.

Southwest declined to identify the pilots, but said both had been flying for the airline for at least 12 years.

The pilots told the NTSB that they had mistaken the bright lights lining the runway at the smaller airport for the larger one.

The NTSB's preliminary report said that "the flight had been cleared to land on runway 14 at KBBG, which was 7,140 feet long, however, landed on runway 12 at KPLK, which was 3,738 feet long. There were no injuries to the 124 passengers and 7 crewmembers and the aircraft was not damaged. The aircraft was being operated under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 121 as a regularly scheduled passenger flight from Chicago Midway International Airport (KMDW), Chicago, Illinois. Night visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time."

FMI: www.ntsb.gov, www.southwest.com