Saturday, August 15, 2009

Tunica - Mc Neely / Piper Dakota (N9706W) / VFR

This night flight from the tiny airport of Tunica (not to be confused with Tunica Muni, which is right next-door) to the even tinier airport of Mc Neely went reasonably well, until it was time to land.

Right about where I felt I should start looking for the destination airport, I spotted a lit runway where I expected to see Mc Neely, so I landed there … only to discover that I was at Bernard, another private strip. Bernard has runway lights; Mc Neely doesn't. I was further confused by the chart, which shows Mc Neely with just one runway, when in fact it has two. I had seen these two strips in the darkness, barely, before landing, but I figured the single lighted strip was the right place.

Upon realizing my error, I turned around, took off, and landed at Mc Neely, which was only a mile or two away. The landing at Mc Neely was rough. The runway I picked was turf and barely visible in the darkness. I got down okay, but I don't consider this a very successful flight.

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