767 Lands on Taxi-way in Atlanta

[D_Rob]

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/10/21/georgia.taxiway.incursion/index.html

I'm almost surprised it doesn't happen more often there. This does seem like the time of day it would happen, in the morning twilight so the pilot can still see a bit and doesn't need to use the airport lighting for setting himself up. They are very lucky that no one else was on the taxi-way at the time.

This is the airport diagram if interested,

http://204.108.4.16/d-tpp/0910/00026AD.PDF

 

[mmx1]

Maybe the PAC moonlighted as a helicopter pilot.

 

[KBayDog]

Maybe the PAC moonlighted as a helicopter pilot.

No kidding. Glad this ended as a (relative) non-event.

Was there any damage to the taxiway? I can't imagine that taxiways are engineered to withstand the stresses of 767 landings, but then again, I'm just a lowly rotorhead without such knowledges.

 

[C420sailor]

I wonder at what point the crew realized that they were landing on a taxiway. Talk about an 'oh shit' moment.

Maybe they were just trying to get to the gate early?

 

[bob88899]

i thought differenciating runway lights, and taxiway lights was a basic skill for any pilot... not to mention one with an atp rating flying heavies....

 

[yak52driver]

I always set up whatever approach is available for a given runway when I'm going into a big airport so that I don't do this.

 

[bob88899]

bet it was a wild ride?! if i was onboard... id have some questions for the pilot before i de-planed:icon_rage.....

 

[scoolbubba]

How'd you think that went over in the flight station? I've heard of some airports using Taxiways as makeshift runways during renovations/repairs on the active. I don't know if it's ever been done with heavies, though.

Maybe he was just trying to save some time gate to gate.

 

[yak52driver]

How'd you think that went over in the flight station? I've heard of some airports using Taxiways as makeshift runways during renovations/repairs on the active. I don't know if it's ever been done with heavies, though.

Maybe he was just trying to save some time gate to gate.

Actually, at my home airport they just repainted the hardsurface runway last week. While it was closed I used the taxiway for the day, worked out fine. I'm guessing they're less inclined to let big iron do that...

 

[A4sForever]

It happens, unfortunately ... since ATL was probably homeplate for this DAL crew, I can only initially surmise that unfamiliarity with the local airport environs was NOT one of the causes of the gross error ...

One memorable crash happened in TPE during the runway construction which seemed to go on for an inordinate amount of time. Everytime we taxi'ed by 5R @ TPE someone would comment how "it's just a matter of time" before a flight makes a take-off or landing mistake on the inboard (short runway, second from right in pix, below, now closed permanently).

And, of course -- someone did in OCT 2000 ... SIA (Singapore Air) 006 tried to take off on the closed-for-construction runway and we chalk up another bad day in Aviation. If you live long enough and fly long enough, you just get to 'know' some things ...



(^ for orientation, North is at the bottom in the overhead pix)



Diagram of Chiang Kai-shek International Airport (now Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport) and the taxi path of Singapore Airlines Flight 006. The dotted green line indicates the correct path to Runway 05L. The green arrow indicates the path to Runway 05R. The red path indicates the fatal takeoff path.

 

[OscarMyers]

Actually, at my home airport they just repainted the hardsurface runway last week. While it was closed I used the taxiway for the day, worked out fine. I'm guessing they're less inclined to let big iron do that...

Is there anything in the FAR that prohibits that?

 

[Brett327]

Is there anything in the FAR that prohibits that?

It's a relatively common practice. Here at NASWI, they use the Bravo taxiway almost exclusively to launch & recover the flying club aircraft. In Incirlik, Turkey, they use the parallel taxiway as an emergency runway - even has provisions to set up arresting gear on it. One day during an ONW recovery, an F-16 slid off the main RWY, so everyone else recovered using the taxiway, including the big wing tankers. Obviously things have to be set up for that, but it's not that uncommon.

Brett

 

[A4sForever]

Again, in the light of 'if it can happen, it will' ...

Semi-sea story (very modest one, at that) :

One of my Amigos came off the target @ Boardman when an engine went "BANG" and shut down ... they booked it for Fairchild AFB that was one of the more satisfactory BINGOs from the bombing range, especially if you didn't want to chance the mountains on one engine ...

They developed some other problems enroute, and while beating down the snakes in the cockpit, they lined up on Geiger (Spokane INTL) instead of Fairchild ... perhaps you can see from this overhead how closely aligned the two airfields' runways are ....

There's that ol' runway ID problem rearing it's ugly head again ....

Sooooooooooo .... they landed @ GEG, and for some reason (I can't remember) lost the ability to open the canopy when they cleared the runway (mebbe they shut the other one down w/ the canopy closed when parked?) ... in any case, the Spokane civilians -- who did NOT 'speak Intruder' came out w/ a fire ax and were enthusiastically going to 'open' the canopy for the crew until the panicked "NO-NO-NO-O-O-O-O-O-O"!!!! gestures they were making in the cockpit allowed cooler crash-crew heads to prevail ...

 

[yak52driver]

Is there anything in the FAR that prohibits that?

I have looked though the FARs and to my knowledge (and my boss') not specifically. But if an accident happened I think the FAA would have some questions.

 

[HAL Pilot]

bet it was a wild ride?! if i was onboard... id have some questions for the pilot before i de-planed:icon_rage.....

I be it was a normal ride and 99% of the pax had no clue about what happened.

You got questions for the pilots - write a letter to the company because if you get in my face, I'll make sure you have a police escort.