Skip to main content

Apple’s aviation inaccuracies

Two drivers in Alaska caused some concern to aviation movements by following directions from Apple Maps. The drivers first crossed the taxiway and then the runway at Fairbanks Airport. How they were able to enter the supposedly secure airport however has not been revealed and nor have their IQ ratings. The drivers ignored numerous signposts and painted markings saying that the area they were entering was restricted to aircraft and not for road vehicles. The airport authorities erected barriers until the map
February 19, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
Two drivers in Alaska caused some concern to aviation movements by following directions from Apple Maps. The drivers first crossed the taxiway and then the runway at Fairbanks Airport. How they were able to enter the supposedly secure airport however has not been revealed and nor have their IQ ratings. The drivers ignored numerous signposts and painted markings saying that the area they were entering was restricted to aircraft and not for road vehicles. The airport authorities erected barriers until the maps could be corrected.

This is one of a series of blunders in the Apple Maps function. Drivers in Ireland looking for Dublin Airport were for a time directed to a farm called Airfield, some 17km from their proper destination. Meanwhile in Victoria, Australia, police at one point criticised inaccurate directions to the town of Mildura as being potentially life threatening. Apple customers could take note that old-fashioned maps are able to operate faultlessly without the need for either an electrical supply or a GSM signal and do not have issues with battery life. Meanwhile also in the US, the pilot of a light aircraft caused some disturbance to motorists when he had to make an emergency landing on a highway in Florida.

The engine of his aircraft began to fail and the pilot realised he was not going to be able to reach the nearest airstrip. He immediately began looking for the nearest stretch of straight road and managed to land the historic aircraft on State Road 415 without injury, although he did cause some traffic disturbance.

Related Content

  • Tackle that Tackle
    April 16, 2012
    A would-be car-jacker in California was brought to a speedy halt by a police dog. The man stole a stretched Humvee limousine at gunpoint from its chauffeur, who immediately called the police. A chase soon ensued and the police pursued the man for 50km, before he was forced to halt the vehicle. The man then jumped out of the vehicle and
  • The financial cost of crashes in the US
    February 1, 2023
    The financial cost of road crashes in the US places a heavy burden.
  • Ramboll’s Simon Benfield looks at the future of gantry design
    September 29, 2016
    Gantries first appeared over highways in the late 1960s and are now of increased importance, thanks to the emergence of Smart Motorways, writes Simon Benfield* The motorway network exhibits a timeline of innovation; lane control signals on highways appeared in the 1970s
  • Insults at the wheel
    December 18, 2017
    Insults at the A British pensioner was recently involved in an unusual incident when trundling his mobility scooter down the middle of a busy road. The driver of a vehicle wishing to overtake was unable to do so safely at first and when he remonstrated with the pensioner, was given a rude gesture and a string of insults in return. The incident was captured on the driver’s dashcam device and it appeared that the pensioner was extremely drunk at the time. Meanwhile young horse riders were the target of a