Delta B767-300 lands on taxiway in Atlanta . . .

[robbreid]

Click Here story from Aviation Herald

[Boeing boy]

Wow, very interesting... but 767-300 pilots should be senior and experienced pilots..how could they make a mistake such as this one? They had poor visibility... what IF there was traffic on the taxiway at the time? It could have very well been America's worst aviation disaster.

[High Flyin]

Wow, very interesting... but 767-300 pilots should be senior and experienced pilots..how could they make a mistake such as this one? They had poor visibility... what IF there was traffic on the taxiway at the time? It could have very well been America's worst aviation disaster.

If there was traffic on the taxiway it would have been a dead giveaway, and if not they would have just gone around.

[sky's the limit]

If the vis is bad enough to land on a taxiway, I'm thinking there wouldn't be a lot of time for a go-around.

stl

[Boeing boy]

If the vis is bad enough to land on a taxiway, I'm thinking there wouldn't be a lot of time for a go-around.

stl

stl, you beat me to it. Yeah, we don't know how bad the visibility was.

[High Flyin]

If the vis is bad enough to land on a taxiway, I'm thinking there wouldn't be a lot of time for a go-around.

stl

stl, you beat me to it. Yeah, we don't know how bad the visibility was.

the crew received clearance to land on runway 27R in night conditions but good visibility

[Boeing boy]

Oh wow, must've missed that. Sorry. I still don't understand how the crew of a 767 could make a mistake like that. Does anyone know what's going to happen with the pilot and F/O.. is this situation not as bad as I think it is?

[High Flyin]

Oh wow, must've missed that. Sorry. I still don't understand how the crew of a 767 could make a mistake like that. Does anyone know what's going to happen with the pilot and F/O.. is this situation not as bad as I think it is?

I don't know how bad it is but I have heard of this stuff happening before.
From where I stand, mistakes where made, no one was hurt. Learn what you can and move on.

[Raybanman]

Later on in the story it shows the metar at the time. 10SM CLR.

[HavaJava]

Does anyone know what's going to happen with the pilot and F/O.. is this situation not as bad as I think it is?

I hope they are given any help and extra training they require before being returned to the line. I hope they play an active role in the incident investigation to try determine the underlying causes of the incident and do everything they can to ensure it doesn't happen again.

This is how sms should work, but alas, I'm sure there will be calls from people to have them fired. None of these pilots (there may have been an augment in the cockpit too) on board intended to land on a taxiway (and if they did have that intention then that would be the only reason to fire them). There could have been any number of underlying issues at play...Fatigue, training, SOPs, lighting, R/T phraseology, medical conditions of the pilots, etc.

[Boeing boy]

Does anyone know what's going to happen with the pilot and F/O.. is this situation not as bad as I think it is?

I hope they are given any help and extra training they require before being returned to the line. I hope they play an active role in the incident investigation to try determine the underlying causes of the incident and do everything they can to ensure it doesn't happen again.

This is how sms should work, but alas, I'm sure there will be calls from people to have them fired. None of these pilots (there may have been an augment in the cockpit too) on board intended to land on a taxiway (and if they did have that intention then that would be the only reason to fire them). There could have been any number of underlying issues at play...Fatigue, training, SOPs, lighting, R/T phraseology, medical conditions of the pilots, etc.

I agree with you. Afterall, they are humans like us... they make mistakes. I hope they don't get fired, as long as it wasn't intentional.

[2R]

At least it was the right airport

[whiteguy]

If the vis is bad enough to land on a taxiway, I'm thinking there wouldn't be a lot of time for a go-around.

stl

stl, you beat me to it. Yeah, we don't know how bad the visibility was.

KATL 190952Z 00000KT 10SM CLR 03/00 A3028 RMK AO2 SLP257 T00330000

[L1011]

I can't remember which airport (or airports) I saw this, but on one of the plates there is a note that says something like Taxiway __ looks like runway ___ and as a result be cautious. For some reason I'm thinking Seattle, but I could be wrong. Maybe this is something that will pop up in Atlanta.

[whiteguy]

I can't remember which airport (or airports) I saw this, but on one of the plates there is a note that says something like Taxiway __ looks like runway ___ and as a result be cautious. For some reason I'm thinking Seattle, but I could be wrong. Maybe this is something that will pop up in Atlanta.

I think YYC plates have that as well. Not to confuse taxiway "U" with runway 25. "U" is south of runway 28 but runs east/west like 25/07.

[Nark]

Most flip plates say that. Also most parallel taxiways have giant TAXI painted to read on final.

[FL410]

Seattle has had this happen a few times I believe.

[Dust Devil]

Man to be a fly on the wall in the cockpit when that happened.

[Flying Nutcracker]

Landing in YYZ on 24R one day (daytime) I could've sworn I was looking at the runway when infact I was looking at a freshly painted taxiway C. Had to take a second look at the ILS to make sure I was on the right track. It is quite plausable to land on the taxiway in good faith... Especially when you're busy and behind the airplane for whatever reason... Even if you are senior... However... looking at the time of this METAR... I am questioning how you could mistake a taxiway for a runway at night and in the dark...??? Interesting...

Quote from the Herald:

had declared a medical emergency while on approach to Atlanta. The approach and landing was accelerated, the crew received clearance to land on runway 27R in night conditions but good visibility, however touched down on taxiway M, which runs north of and parallel to runway 27R. The airplane slowed safely

There's my "busy and behind the airplane" assumption...

[~Hollywood~]

Wow pretty scary stuff. It was a Delta plane landing back at their home base, so you think they would of done that approach a few times by now.....

[L1011]

Seattle has had this happen a few times I believe.

http://community.seattletimes.nwsource. ... g=seatac13

At least eight times since December 1999, experienced pilots from five different airlines have mistaken Taxiway Tango for Runway 16R.

Three planes, including an American Airlines MD-80 carrying 111 passengers and crew members, actually landed on the taxiway.

When Palm Springs International Airport added a second parallel runway in 1991, planes began landing on the taxiway between the two landing strips. Twenty taxiway landings took place in 1995 alone, although most involved small private planes rather than commercial jets.

[Flying Low]

I'm surprised this happened at night. Most times when this happens it is during the day in good vis. At night I would have thought the blue lights would be a dead giveaway and during really low viz an ILS lines you up so well you would have to work pretty hard to see the taxiway rather than the runway. It seems to be the same thing with landing at the wrong airport. Nice visual conditions...oh there's an airport...must be the right one.

[Guido]

I'm surprised this happened at night. Most times when this happens it is during the day in good vis. At night I would have thought the blue lights would be a dead giveaway and during really low viz an ILS lines you up so well you would have to work pretty hard to see the taxiway rather than the runway. It seems to be the same thing with landing at the wrong airport. Nice visual conditions...oh there's an airport...must be the right one.

0952Z ... that's 5:52 local... now it's dark up here in Ontario at that time of the morning, but is it in Atlanta? It'd be at least beginning to lighten, I'd think?


... (checking)


never mind, sunrise is around 7:48 local in Atlanta... [from my armchair] I'm gonna chalk this up to them being tired!

[pika]

viewtopic.php?f=54&t=56448

Here we go again. Can we chalk it up to morons or can we try to understand how and why and make an effort to avoid it again?

[Check Pilot]

Those guys aren't morons pika.

Atlanta airport is not one of the easiest airports to try and make an arrival at. I have done arrivals at ATL in the aircraft a few times and in the Simulator many countless times. It's challenging for even those pilots that have been into there many hundreds of times. While sitting in the back doing check rides and after about 50 arrivals at ATL myself over the years, I still had some difficulty lining up for the runway and not the taxiway. I made the same mistake in the simulator of lining up on that taxiway a couple of times myself before our CRM got it sorted out.
And that was after only a couple of months of not seeing it for a while. After that I always chickened out and just followed the ILS to make sure I had the runway and not that taxiway.

There was even one day when the simulator guy put snow on the field and I was convinced that I was lined up with the runway even though the ILS was a couple of dots off at 3 miles back and I was lined up with that stupid taxiway. I saved my ass when I asked for the autopilot to be engaged. It lined us up with the runway or I too, would have landed on that taxiway.

If you haven't been there, don't put all the issues about this unfortunate, but luckily damage free incident as a CRM issue with the pilots.