Originally Posted by
glofish
What bothers me in this particular incident, is the non-reaction of the crew after recognising that something is not quite right. Many of us might have experienced a bad line-up, an initial heading for the wrong piece of concrete, a wrong approach setting, etc., at least I have. The important part is to A) recognise an error and B) mitigate it, take action.
The query by this crew about funny lights on the runway shows that they suspected something’s not right. By just continuing once the tower told them the runway was clear and only initiating a go-around on input by a taxiing aircraft and subsequently the tower, and especially how low they passed over the taxiing aircraft once started the G/A, shows how long (too long) the passivity of the crew was ongoing.
In any uncomfortable situation that is highly unprofessional and even frightening.
The crew's response surely indicates that somehow they were certain that they were lined up on the runway and had become fixated on that certainty, despite the various visual indications to the contrary. They queried the lights
on the runway, but the tower said the runway was clear, so since they were
sure they were heading for the runway, it must be clear despite the funny lights ... Nothing in that radio conversation triggered a realisation that they were looking at the taxiway, not the runway.