747FOCAL
18th Mar 2004, 14:49
Errant landings at Sea-Tac cause alarm
Tacoma News-Tribune 03/18/04
author: John Gillie
Sea-Tac Airport is four years, several favorable court decisions and nearly a billion dollars away from completing its third runway.
Some errant airline pilots apparently haven't gotten that message.
Three times in a little more than three years - most recently on Jan. 19 - pilots have used the airport's westernmost taxiway as a third runway, the National Transportation Safety Board says.
That's a dangerous alternative because planes, airport trucks and maintenance vehicles use the taxiway, dramatically increasing the risk of an accident. No vehicles were on the taxiway when the misguided landings occurred, officials said.
The three flights were supposed to have landed on the nearby runway, "16 Right."
NTSB incident reports also show that during the same period, three other commercial flights nearly landed on the broad concrete taxiway, called "Tango" by the airport.
The most recent of those incidents was a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 flight from Oakland, Calif., to Sea-Tac on Feb. 24. That flight initially lined up to land on the taxiway. The co-pilot, who was flying the plane, at the last minute changed course to land on the adjacent runway.
The flight's captain, according to the NTSB incident report, didn't realize until the co-pilot corrected the course that the plane was aiming for the taxiway.
In the other two incidents, the pilot either changed course or aborted the taxiway landing and took the plane around for another try at landing.
No one was injured in any of the otherwise normal landings. But the Federal Aviation Administration, the NTSB, the Air Line Pilots Association and Sea-Tac Airport officials are concerned enough to take steps that the taxiway landings aren't repeated.
"We're very concerned," said Mark Coates, Sea-Tac operations manager. "We're going above and beyond the normal requirements to see that these taxiway landings never happen again."
Fortunately for those on the three flights - a Harbor Air Cessna 208 on Dec. 2, 2000; an American Airlines MD-80 jet on March 14, 2003; and an Air Canada de Havilland DHC-8 on Jan. 19, 2004 - the taxiway is lightly used. A major disaster could have resulted if the taxiway was occupied by another plane or vehicle.
Tango was built largely to serve the yet-incomplete third runway. It also serves Weyerhaeuser Co.'s corporate hangar and an aircraft tiedown and storage area at the south end of the taxiway.
The pilots said a combination of wet pavement, bright sunshine on the taxiway's south end and cloud-darkened pavement on the airport's north end made identifying the taxiway difficult.
Aviation safety consultant John Nance, who as a commercial airline pilot landed at Sea-Tac hundreds of times, said it's unlikely that such a mistake could happen under instrument conditions or at night. Each incident happened under visual flight rules during the daytime.
"If you get even 50 feet away from the centerline of the runway, you're warned when you're on instruments," he said.
At night, runways are delineated with white lights and taxiways are marked with blue lights.
Because the pilots in each case could see the taxiway before they landed, they likely would have seen any aircraft or vehicles using the taxiway and aborted their landing, Nance said.
Nance said the pilots' workload is high during landing. They can become fixated on targeting a spot to land and unconsciously ignore other clues that would have warned them they were landing on the wrong strip of concrete.
The taxiway parallels Runway 16 Right. It's just 600 feet west of that runway.
Even with his 13,000 hours of flight time, Nance said that once in a great while he's become confused when landing at an unfamiliar airport. On a trip to St. Louis, he was landing westward into the setting sun and visibility of the runway markings was obscured by the bright light.
Nance said he asked the control tower if he was properly aligned with the runway. The controller warned him that he was headed for the adjacent taxiway instead.
Taxiway Tango's north end is marked by a lighted "X" 11 feet by 25 feet across, Coates said. Pilots who landed on the taxiway said they didn't see the X.
Coates said Sea-Tac is taking extraordinary measures to end the taxiway landings.
The airport, for instance, is operating the sequentially flashing runway lights on Runway 16 Right 24 hours a day. It also is advising pilots in a recorded weather briefing that they listen to before landing not to confuse the taxiway with the runway.
The warnings about the taxiway also are being published in updated charts and notices to pilots.
"Collectively we're hoping that all of these measures will prevent the confusion," he said. "We've gone above and beyond what's required because we don't want this to happen again."
:ooh: :uhoh:
Tacoma News-Tribune 03/18/04
author: John Gillie
Sea-Tac Airport is four years, several favorable court decisions and nearly a billion dollars away from completing its third runway.
Some errant airline pilots apparently haven't gotten that message.
Three times in a little more than three years - most recently on Jan. 19 - pilots have used the airport's westernmost taxiway as a third runway, the National Transportation Safety Board says.
That's a dangerous alternative because planes, airport trucks and maintenance vehicles use the taxiway, dramatically increasing the risk of an accident. No vehicles were on the taxiway when the misguided landings occurred, officials said.
The three flights were supposed to have landed on the nearby runway, "16 Right."
NTSB incident reports also show that during the same period, three other commercial flights nearly landed on the broad concrete taxiway, called "Tango" by the airport.
The most recent of those incidents was a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 flight from Oakland, Calif., to Sea-Tac on Feb. 24. That flight initially lined up to land on the taxiway. The co-pilot, who was flying the plane, at the last minute changed course to land on the adjacent runway.
The flight's captain, according to the NTSB incident report, didn't realize until the co-pilot corrected the course that the plane was aiming for the taxiway.
In the other two incidents, the pilot either changed course or aborted the taxiway landing and took the plane around for another try at landing.
No one was injured in any of the otherwise normal landings. But the Federal Aviation Administration, the NTSB, the Air Line Pilots Association and Sea-Tac Airport officials are concerned enough to take steps that the taxiway landings aren't repeated.
"We're very concerned," said Mark Coates, Sea-Tac operations manager. "We're going above and beyond the normal requirements to see that these taxiway landings never happen again."
Fortunately for those on the three flights - a Harbor Air Cessna 208 on Dec. 2, 2000; an American Airlines MD-80 jet on March 14, 2003; and an Air Canada de Havilland DHC-8 on Jan. 19, 2004 - the taxiway is lightly used. A major disaster could have resulted if the taxiway was occupied by another plane or vehicle.
Tango was built largely to serve the yet-incomplete third runway. It also serves Weyerhaeuser Co.'s corporate hangar and an aircraft tiedown and storage area at the south end of the taxiway.
The pilots said a combination of wet pavement, bright sunshine on the taxiway's south end and cloud-darkened pavement on the airport's north end made identifying the taxiway difficult.
Aviation safety consultant John Nance, who as a commercial airline pilot landed at Sea-Tac hundreds of times, said it's unlikely that such a mistake could happen under instrument conditions or at night. Each incident happened under visual flight rules during the daytime.
"If you get even 50 feet away from the centerline of the runway, you're warned when you're on instruments," he said.
At night, runways are delineated with white lights and taxiways are marked with blue lights.
Because the pilots in each case could see the taxiway before they landed, they likely would have seen any aircraft or vehicles using the taxiway and aborted their landing, Nance said.
Nance said the pilots' workload is high during landing. They can become fixated on targeting a spot to land and unconsciously ignore other clues that would have warned them they were landing on the wrong strip of concrete.
The taxiway parallels Runway 16 Right. It's just 600 feet west of that runway.
Even with his 13,000 hours of flight time, Nance said that once in a great while he's become confused when landing at an unfamiliar airport. On a trip to St. Louis, he was landing westward into the setting sun and visibility of the runway markings was obscured by the bright light.
Nance said he asked the control tower if he was properly aligned with the runway. The controller warned him that he was headed for the adjacent taxiway instead.
Taxiway Tango's north end is marked by a lighted "X" 11 feet by 25 feet across, Coates said. Pilots who landed on the taxiway said they didn't see the X.
Coates said Sea-Tac is taking extraordinary measures to end the taxiway landings.
The airport, for instance, is operating the sequentially flashing runway lights on Runway 16 Right 24 hours a day. It also is advising pilots in a recorded weather briefing that they listen to before landing not to confuse the taxiway with the runway.
The warnings about the taxiway also are being published in updated charts and notices to pilots.
"Collectively we're hoping that all of these measures will prevent the confusion," he said. "We've gone above and beyond what's required because we don't want this to happen again."
:ooh: :uhoh: