Indeed

I almost never made it past infancy due to a Vulcan crashing no more than a couple of hundred yards from our mam and dad's house when I was just a couple of months old:

http://www.neam.co.uk/wingate.html

Not really, it could easily happen and I'd be surprise if they get fired.

BTW- Im a commercial licensed pilot

Not a very good one then with statements like that

I've actually done it- That was before GPS...WE had E6-B's

How long ago are we talking though? My experience with the aviation industry is all the last 10 years. You, as a pilot must know the massive dangers involved with landing at a wrong airport which is exactly why it shouldn't be easy to do for a competent crew. If your experience is dating back 20 or so years ago, well the stories the old timers at LHR used to tell me, an aircraft landing at a wrong airport was probably way down the list of safety scares.

From the air 9 miles is nothing...It could easily happen, thats all i'm saying- but I betcha it won't happen to either of those guys again.

It's Southwest Airlines......you pay for what you get.

That's like the surgeon who amputates a limb on the wrong side, or removes the wrong kidney. I have no doubt it is easy to do, but more should be expected from a highly paid professional.

Its not quite that bad, but...Point taken

Flying visually, I could see it happening in a private plane. It's right that from the air, 9 miles is nothing and I've done it in Flight Simulator a few times but ...

A commercial flight on a 737 would not be operating without a route programmed into the FMC - someone at some point would have had to enter the wrong airport's 4-letter code during pre-flight.

The only way it would have happened would be if the airports were really very close (and indistinguishable from the air) and they were cleared for a visual approach, rather than a full instrument landing. Even then, surely they'd have prepped for ILS in case visual conditions were lost.

It's a head scratcher for sure

Well of course it was a visual approach...I never look down at the Glide Slope and Localizer when I can see the runway.

I was talking about the Southwest flight. Though, even if cleared for visual they had to have known where they were.

So was I

Evidently they didn't, but I agree they should have. Commercial flying is like being a bus driver, it gets routine, it's not like those guys are completely focused the entire flight like a brain surgeon would be during an operation.

That's the advantage of the instrument approach, I guess.