Delta flight lands on taxiway instead of runway

dapoes

Veteran
May 17, 2008
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VIA AJC and Aviation Herald

The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the circumstances that caused a Delta Air Lines flight from Rio de Janeiro to end on a taxiway instead of the prescribed runway at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

The pilot and co-pilot have been "relieved of active flying pending the completion of the investigations," said Delta spokesman Anthony Black, "and we're cooperating with the investigations."

Taxiway M looks to be just about half the width of Rwy 27R, which is 150 ft wide. :shock:
 
Thankfully no one was injured or killed. That could have been a catastrophy if the taxi way had been occupied.

For the life of me, other then human error, I cannot figure out why this happens. There are a lot of independent safeguards in place to prevent this and yet, it still happens.

"Taxiway M looks to be just about half the width of Rwy 27R, which is 150 ft wide." And its lined with blue lights, and the localizer doesn't lead the plane to touch down there. And it isn't preceeded by all the lights on the trees that point you to the threshold and piano keys. And...and...and... Since this was a red eye...I wonder if the crew were outside their hours, or what they did during their off time? It will be interesting to see what the investigation reveals and see if anything needs to be addressed/changed to increase safety at ATL. But I suspect this will end with human error being the main contributing factor.

But again, thankfully, no one was injured or killed and that is what really matters at this point in the game. Reality is the outcome could have been much more disasterous.
 
Very Simialar to a CO B757 that landed on a Taxiway in EWR in 2006

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2008/04/l..._newark_ta.html
Some differences... Landing was at dawn during visual conditions and as rumor has it during a medical emergency. Not an excuse but an explanations for why they changed runways and short changed some of the backups they should have used. Rwy 27L at that time of day would have only runway edge lights on low power. The taxiway M would have blue lights on low power.
To the rushed and tired both pavements would appear to be unlighted. They probable changed to the inboard runway to lessen taxi time because of the medical issue and we all know that that was not a good one.Runway changes after 11 hrs. of flight time under normal circumstances is not a good idea.
 
Really? Why? (honest questions)
Because the visual ques that a pilot uses get squed. I have landed at that time of day on that runway...27R after transitioning from 27L and it is hard to see sometimes. That is an explanation not an excuse.When you rush you sometimes see things that are not right and do not recognize them. The secret is to be methodical .That is why we use that check list.
 
Because the visual ques that a pilot uses get squed. I have landed at that time of day on that runway...27R after transitioning from 27L and it is hard to see sometimes. That is an explanation not an excuse.When you rush you sometimes see things that are not right and do not recognize them. The secret is to be methodical .That is why we use that check list.

I guess they didnt have time to put the ILS freq in. Very lucky no other aircraft were on Mike. Very basic flying, land on the correct runway.
 
I guess they didnt have time to put the ILS freq in. Very lucky no other aircraft were on Mike. Very basic flying, land on the correct runway.
You are right but it probably would not have helped because at that time of day they are usually landing east.Probably landed wrong way because of the medical emergency
 
You are right but it probably would not have helped because at that time of day they are usually landing east.Probably landed wrong way because of the medical emergency
We take off and land to the east when the winds are from the east. We take off and land to the west when the winds are from the west. When they're calm/light and variable, we take off and land whichever way the controllers tell us. We don't take off or land in a certain direction depending on the time of day.

Flight 60's flight plan had them arriving on the Canuk arrival (from the southeast). Landing west was quickest. The winds were calm at the time of landing, which was at 0605; official sunrise was at 0746. The approach lights and localizer for 27R were off.

It is not a bad decision to land on the inboard runway when you have an emergency. You land on the longest runway, the closest runway to the terminal, the runway that gets you on the ground the quickest, etc. You do whatever you need to do, to the extent necessary to meet the circumstances of the emergency.

Had any aircraft been taxiing eastbound on taxiway Mike, I don't have much doubt that the pilots of flight 60 would have seen them and been able to safely go around.

These guys obviously made a mistake. They WERE probably rushing, flustered, etc. That's the human-natured thing to do/be when a crewmember's health is in jeopardy. We're trained to ignore human nature in emergencies, but that training doesn't guarantee success out on the line. It's real easy to do when you're sitting in the comfort of your computer chair at home, isn't it?
 
We take off and land to the east when the winds are from the east. We take off and land to the west when the winds are from the west. When they're calm/light and variable, we take off and land whichever way the controllers tell us. We don't take off or land in a certain direction depending on the time of day.

Flight 60's flight plan had them arriving on the Canuk arrival (from the southeast). Landing west was quickest. The winds were calm at the time of landing, which was at 0605; official sunrise was at 0746. The approach lights and localizer for 27R were off.

It is not a bad decision to land on the inboard runway when you have an emergency. You land on the longest runway, the closest runway to the terminal, the runway that gets you on the ground the quickest, etc. You do whatever you need to do, to the extent necessary to meet the circumstances of the emergency.

Had any aircraft been taxiing eastbound on taxiway Mike, I don't have much doubt that the pilots of flight 60 would have seen them and been able to safely go around.

These guys obviously made a mistake. They WERE probably rushing, flustered, etc. That's the human-natured thing to do/be when a crewmember's health is in jeopardy. We're trained to ignore human nature in emergencies, but that training doesn't guarantee success out on the line. It's real easy to do when you're sitting in the comfort of your computer chair at home, isn't it?
Rushing, flustered,ect.............. They broke the first rule of aviation.... ALWAYS FLY YOUR AIRCRAFT!
 
Rushing, flustered,ect.............. They broke the first rule of aviation.... ALWAYS FLY YOUR AIRCRAFT!
Who quit flying? They flew it all the way to Mike. I'm not defending what they did; I'm offering another perspective - different from some of the "if it had been me, I would have done it perfectly, no mistakes, you'd have been studying ME in your CRM class for years" comments.
 
We take off and land to the east when the winds are from the east. We take off and land to the west when the winds are from the west. When they're calm/light and variable, we take off and land whichever way the controllers tell us. We don't take off or land in a certain direction depending on the time of day.

Flight 60's flight plan had them arriving on the Canuk arrival (from the southeast). Landing west was quickest. The winds were calm at the time of landing, which was at 0605; official sunrise was at 0746. The approach lights and localizer for 27R were off.

It is not a bad decision to land on the inboard runway when you have an emergency. You land on the longest runway, the closest runway to the terminal, the runway that gets you on the ground the quickest, etc. You do whatever you need to do, to the extent necessary to meet the circumstances of the emergency.

Had any aircraft been taxiing eastbound on taxiway Mike, I don't have much doubt that the pilots of flight 60 would have seen them and been able to safely go around.

These guys obviously made a mistake. They WERE probably rushing, flustered, etc. That's the human-natured thing to do/be when a crewmember's health is in jeopardy. We're trained to ignore human nature in emergencies, but that training doesn't guarantee success out on the line. It's real easy to do when you're sitting in the comfort of your computer chair at home, isn't it?
Well you are right about the winds /landing direction. So tell LAX about it they have been landing wrong direction after 11:30 at night (with a tail wind) FOR THIRTY SOME YEARS and ATL does it also in the morning hours ( noise abatement). The ILS for 27R is always off.. if it exists. The realities are ..It was dark ..It was visual ..and they made a mistake. NO excuse but .....Who was flying? Who were in the seats at the time? If it was a TOE or a Line check OR just a regular trip.If that were the case then TWO co-pilots landed that airplane. Still no excuse. I'm sure there is more to this story then is public.
 
Well you are right about the winds /landing direction. So tell LAX about it they have been landing wrong direction after 11:30 at night (with a tail wind) FOR THIRTY SOME YEARS and ATL does it also in the morning hours ( noise abatement). The ILS for 27R is always off.. if it exists. The realities are ..It was dark ..It was visual ..and they made a mistake. NO excuse but .....Who was flying? Who were in the seats at the time? If it was a TOE or a Line check OR just a regular trip.If that were the case then TWO co-pilots landed that airplane. Still no excuse. I'm sure there is more to this story then is public.
ATL doesn't land to the east in the morning for noise abatement. The localizer freq. for 27R is usually off, but ATC will turn it on upon request. So now it was dark??? In one of your first posts, it was dawn; now its dark. There IS more to the story. Had you gone to ntsb.gov before posting, you might not have posted that the landing occurred at dawn and in the wrong direction.
 
ATL doesn't land to the east in the morning for noise abatement. The localizer freq. for 27R is usually off, but ATC will turn it on upon request. So now it was dark??? In one of your first posts, it was dawn; now its dark. There IS more to the story. Had you gone to ntsb.gov before posting, you might not have posted that the landing occurred at dawn and in the wrong direction.
Dawn /Dark/barely light out what is your point. I don't experience many Citrus flying around at that time of day so explain your experience with this situation. They will turn the LOC on but it is not instantaneous on like you make out. I guess that is what you would do but I doubt it. Landing east flys over the fewest houses so that is the preferred runway and the best approaches per minimums but of course you know that because you are Citrus .