Hard to believe pilots land at the wrong airport, but are they not only human?

As of last week, we have all seen the Southwest 737 land at the wrong airport, and this past year we have seen a few more incidents like this happen, but this is nothing that is new to the aviation world. Back in 2011, a Continental Connection flight 3222 landed at a small private airport. The aircraft was able to safely stop and nobody was injured. Continental Connection operated under Colgan air at the time, which was itself under the microscope due to the Buffalo crash that had highlighted many issues with regional airlines. Both the pilots were suspended because of the incident.  http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/09/15/flight-crew-relieved-from-duty-following-landing-at-wrong-airport/

The hazards of landing at a wrong airport are many. There is the chance that runway isn't long enough that the aircraft can run off of it and there is an even bigger problem with landing at GA airports, which often seems to be the norm in these types of incidents. While most commercial airports have hazards such as trees removed, most GA airports tend to have many hazards at the ends of their runways, that while are easily avoided by light aircraft, can be a much bigger problem if a plane were to run off the runway. Additionally, most GA airports while up to FAA code with their runways, are not maintained to the same standard as an large commercial airport, which could cause damage a large aircraft that accidently lands on it. Lastly, if too large an aircraft lands on too small an airport, and assuming it survives the incident intact, if it cannot take off, it will cost a company possibly millions just to remove it. While landing at the wrong runway already costs a company a loss of profits, the possibility that an aircraft would have to be disassembled would be disastrous, both in profits and PR.

I believe that both this is a correctible mistake, and that the media inflates this issue far too much. While being just a GA pilot myself, and only having to deal with a 100 kt top speed, it's hard to phantom landing at the wrong airport because its hard to get lost (or lost for long) at that slow of a speed. With an increase of speed, there has to be much more planning involved, and the pilot has to be ahead of his aircraft. This however, shouldn't be an issue for a pilot with hundreds of hours and somebody who flies faster aircraft. As for the media, they seem ready to pounce on an issue such as this when it comes up, even when nobody is hurt. It is a mistake when an aircraft lands on the wrong airport, but in light of what could have happened, when at the end of the day all passengers and crew are not hurt, and the aircraft isn't damaged, it shouldn't dominate the news as this past incident has. The media just loves anything aviation related that can make a good story.

Lastly, I do believe Southwest is right in their action to suspend the pilots. The pilot has a reasonability to land his passengers at the correct airport. They have many tools at their disposal, from GPS, to VOR's, to basic maps on the MDFs as well as ATC and themselves. To land a plane at the wrong airport is a big issue, and if a pilot were to do so, they need to be evaluated to make sure they are up to the standards that are necessary to fly commercial aircraft. To lose their job would be too far (unless they are truly not up to standard), but to have additional training must be an option if the pilot is up to the job.