We have all done it at some point – taken a wrong turn at a traffic circle and ended up in entirely the wrong place.
Or put too much faith in the car satellite navigation, and found ourselves many miles from our planned destination, wondering how we could have been so stupid.
But few of us have done what the crew of a Vietnamese Airbus A320 did last week: land at the wrong airport, 100km from where they should have been.
All staff who were on Flight VJ8861, operated by budget carrier VietJet Air, have been suspended after the aircraft touched down at Cam Ranh airport, near Nha Trang City – a popular holiday resort on Vietnam’s east coast.
The incident happened last Thursday, but the full story of what went wrong is yet to emerge.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam has taken swift action against the flight crew, pending an investigation. The regulator says that its preliminary findings reveal a “serious incident… posing [a] threat to aviation safety”.
The authority also says that, according to early research, crew, pilots and ground staff failed to follow proper procedures. It adds that “appropriate measures” will be taken against the airline once the investigation is complete.
Vietjet Air has not yet explained how the plane came to arrive at the wrong airport.
The aircraft was carrying 180 passengers – all of whom had to be transferred on a second flight. – Daily Mail