CoolP wrote:
In clear weather though, the danger seems to be manageable.

You would think, however that is when these stupid things happen. In IMC you would be forced to set the radios and keep a sharp eye on where the plane is. At least that is the way it's planed. On a beautiful VFR day you tend to relax and that is setting you up for a bite in the butt.

We had a crew ferry a 707 down to Mexico to bring back a charter group. Just the cockpit and cabin crew were on the plane. It was a bit hazy but for the most part a nice day. When the flight was switched from approach to tower, the tower cleared the flight to land. Now the bite in the butt!

Your in the middle of the jungle, it's a bit hazy and your cleared to land at an airport you never set eyes on. Oh no! :o  

The pilots looked out the window and guess what they saw just a few miles ahead...... a runway! But did they look over the approach chart really well before the descent? My guess is NO! The airport of intended landing was ahead about 10 miles away. What they saw was an old crop duster field that was aligned almost the same as the distant airport of intended landing.

They were cleared to land

They looked out the window and there was the runway - so let's land!

Well, just about the time they went into the flare it dawned on them that this was maybe a bit narrow, and maybe a bit short, and maybe the wrong place, and this is what is called in the business - an oh s#%t moment!

Well, they got the old gal stopped and looked around. Engines one & four inlets were green from all the grass they slid through. After the "moment" passed, they thought about what they could do to extract themselves from their situation. They kept cool and shut down engines 1 & 4. The F/E went out the tunnel in the cockpit and exited the plane via the E&E door, just behind the nose wheel. The F/E was able to find some very surprised locals whom he hired to use machetes to clear the grass from the side of the runway. He was able to get a ladder and the cabin team was taken off the plane and sent over via ground transport to the "real" airport. After clearing all the grass out of the outboard engines, and seeing no damage just green stain, one & four were started. They looked OK. The captain carefully (too late now) turned the plane around and after the F/E got back on board, blasted off for the proper airport.

Now remember this is early 70's maybe late 60's. They checked out the plane with the local mechanics and determined her fit to go, so they put the people on and off they went. Well as you can guess, all hell broke out when the chief pilot got them into his office. But, if they had not flown the old gal out by themselves they would never have received permission from the FAA and the plane would still be there as some tropical bar.

So the moral of the story... SITUATIONAL AWARENESS! Don't get complacent. Because you know the old bite in the butt is just around the corner. These guys were very lucky. It could have been a disaster. You never know, so keep alert. When I was doing flight instruction in the airlines, my students would sometimes ask; How do you know when not to do something? My advice, use the sphincter as your guide. If it is not comfortable, don't do it! Also, ask yourself - Can I defend this action at the hearing?  :-/