I am not a pilot and do not want to sound judgmental but how did the pilot, copilot, and air traffic controller land a plane at the wrong airport seven miles away?

Don't think that traffic control was heavily involved. They said the pilot and copilot relied on visual information not theirs! Remember that a Boeing Dreamlifter landed at the wrong airport back in November. An airport that was not big enough to handle the plane! Both I suspect were career ending moves!
Hey, we're pilots, we don't trust computers!
Peter.

It's actually a pretty easy thing to do especially in an area that is new to the pilot. That is why it's important to pay attention and use all available nav resources.

back before GPS technology it really wasn't that uncommon. I can remember on one of my first x-country's, I landed at an airport just to make sure I knew where I was.

It happens surprisingly often...even a USAF C-5A recently made a wrong landing!

I remember a big booboo....a United DC-8 landed at Troutdale, OR about 4000' long....enroute to Portland International in the 70's....runways lined up perfect about 7 miles apart....before GPS, INS, ...broke out of IFR conditions, there was the runway...they landed...and the VOR is right close to PDX...clearly a visual.
They had to offload the pax, offload remaining fuel, and they took out all of the seats...and flew it over to PDX...uneventful!!
Cheers,

EDDY,

The United DC-8-21 landing in Troutdale occurred in 1962.