Delta Flight From Rio Lands On Taxiway

[Machaca]

WSB reports:

Delta Flight Lands on Taxiway

By Jon Lewis @ October 20, 2009 9:32 AM Permalink |

(WSB Radio) The FAA is investigating why a Delta flight coming in from Rio landed on a taxiway at the Atlanta airport, instead of the runway.

The FAA's Kathleen Bergen tells WSB's Bob Coxe Delta Flight #60 from Rio had been cleared to land on runway 27R just after 6 Monday morning.

Instead, it landed on a parallel taxiway:

"Pilots are trained to land on the runway," Bergen says. "Taxiway landing is not appropriate, so we will be investigating it very thoroughly in determining why that happened.

"We did receive a report that there was a medical emergency on board the aircraft when the landing occurred," she says, "but the pilot still is required to follow all proper procedures and land on the runway."

There were no planes on the taxiway, and no one was hurt.

Bergen says the crew had reported a medical emergency on board, but that wouldn't excuse a taxiway landing.

Such landings are rare, but have happened.

"I can't think of any prior occasion in Atlanta," says Bergen. "But we have had patterns of taxiway landings at other airports in the southeast."

One southern airport, in particular, has had its share of taxiway landings.

"We've had a number of these cases occurring at Palm Beach International Airport," she says. "That is causing us to take a look at the airport layout."

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports:

Delta flight lands on taxiway instead of runway


By Rhonda Cook

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
3:18 p.m. Tuesday, October 20, 2009

The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the circumstances that caused a Delta Air Lines flight from Rio de Janeiro land on a taxiway instead of the prescribed runway at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said Tuesday the pilot of Delta 60 had declared a medical emergency just before landing in Atlanta at 6 a.m. Monday but even so should not have landed on the taxiway. She did not know the nature of the emergency.

The Boeing 767 touched down on the taxiway running parallel and north of runway No. 27.

No one was injured and there were no other aircraft on the taxiway, Bergen said.
“The aircraft landed safely,” she said. “The FAA is investigating and looking at all aspects of the event… Our goal is to find out what happened and to ensure it doesn’t happen again.”

She said it was “very, very rare” for a plane to land on a taxiway rather than the runway. “None of us here, anecdotally, can remember this happening,” she said.
A spokesman for Delta was not available for comment.

DL60 arrived at 6:09 local. Sunrise was 7:46 local.


DL60 track inbound:




KATL: