Originally Posted by
OldLurker
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.
Absolutely, this is the key point. I was reminded of Western DC-10 in Mexico City.
It is very fortunate that a happy end was had, and people need to look at this very, very hard.
Another example would be Comair in Lexington. Despite no runway lights, they initiated TO and were completely unaware until they ran out of runway. This is clearly a "thing", fixation on unreal situations despite the obvious evidence.