Originally Posted by
underfire
This is a profession, with professional responsibilities.
In transportation, truck, rail, and ship accidents, the driver, captain, or responsible person is held accountable.
The train driver who missed the signal has his license taken away, the truck driver who ran the red light has his license taken away, the boat captain who misjudged the pier has his license taken away.
So the aircraft drivers who try to land on a taxiway full of aircraft should be just a learning lesson?
Frequently, these events occur because the driver was distracted doing stuff not related to driving/docking/whatever. If that is the case, he should rightfully have his license suspended/revoked and get fired. The same if he did what he did because he couldn't be bothered to obey the law "because he is more important than that".
However, if he is doing his level best to avoid the event, he should be allowed to keep it. E.g. you run a red light to make room for the ambulance behind you. If there is no crash, nobody will blame you.
Even in aviation, if you break the rules because you feel like it or because you can't be bothered to do proper preparation, you should be prosecuted. To my knowledge, you are. This impinges on this case - they should have been aware of the issue with the runway lighting. They did download the NOTAMs, read them, etc. How come they missed this? I don't think they were just going through the motions. There is a gap in there somewhere that should be fixed.
I cannot imagine these pilots were trying to die. They were doing their best to land the aircraft safely. They (hopefully) had a sterile cockpit, they noticed something amiss and even queried ATC about it. IMHO, they should not be fired.
I'm sure they will never make that mistake again, they will go around much earlier if something looks wrong (imagine a 380 had been waiting there...). They triggered a discussion that may save someone else in the future (remember, a landing is an approach that doesn't end in a go-around!).
(Disclaimer: just an SLF)