Harrison Ford lands on taxiway KSNA

[West Coast]

Harrison Ford Has Incident With Passenger Plane at Airport - NBC News (http://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/harrison-ford-has-incident-passenger-plane-airport-n720826)

[bnt]

"Was that airliner meant to be underneath me?" :eek:

[pattern_is_full]

From previous published events, I thought it required an ATP rating to land on a taxiway.

;)

[Airbubba]

Looks like he flew one of his two Husky's, N89HU, down to SNA from Santa Monica.

The American flight he went over was AA 1456, not AA 1546 as reported in the link above and the incident occurred at about 2015Z on Monday.

He landed on taxiway C and overflew the B-738 which was holding on L short of 20L for takeoff on 20R.

From previous published events, I thought it required an ATP rating to land on a taxiway.

;)

He might very well have one. He got a Cessna 680 type rating at Flight Safety in Wichita a few years ago.

[FLCH]

Not allowed to go Solo anymore ? ;)

[fleigle]

Well, it's better than his "landing" on a golf course.

[Dan Winterland]

He needed Chewey next to him.

[AN2 Driver]

Just looking at the layout of the airport... that is a gotcha which has happened elsewhere as well to much more experienced folks...

If I get it from Airbubba's message, then it is not untypical what happened here.

Big Runway 20R, Small runway 20L and parallel TWY.

You know you need to go to the left runway which is smaller than the right one, for some reason fix on the right one and then think oh, hang on, need to go left again.

Happened to a BAC 111 at Gatwick many moons ago, BIA if I am not mistaken and scared the bejazis out of an opposite 737.

By the looks of it he must have seen the 737 and avoided it easily enough just wondering what the heck it was doing there instead of getting the idea that he was in the wrong place. One of these incidents where a flat forehead may well result in aftermath.

Well, nobody was hurt and wasn't likely to be hurt either. And if Harrison is a nice guy (which he is I understand) he'll write a nice "I learnt about flying from that" for all of us to help us understand why it happened so we can all learn from it.

[Possum1]

I don't know about the local requirements in the US but having looked at Google Earth, I wonder:

This is a large airport by light aircraft standards so where are the piano keys marking the threshold for this runway?

[Airbubba]

This is a large airport by light aircraft standards so where are the piano keys marking the threshold for this runway?

Good question and pertinent to this event I would say. Runway 20L has what the FAA calls visual runway markings with no 'piano keys'. If the runway had instrument markings like 20R it would be easier to distinguish from the taxiway in my opinion. As you can see from Google Earth, the ramps, runways and taxiways are a hodgepodge of different shades of long narrow rectangles.

Some good information here in what used to be called the Airmen's Information Manual:

http://tfmlearning.fly.faa.gov/publications/atpubs/aim/Chap2/aim0203.html

[JammedStab]

I don't know about the local requirements in the US but having looked at Google Earth, I wonder:

This is a large airport by light aircraft standards so where are the piano keys marking the threshold for this runway?
Who needs piano keys? I did some dual in a Pitts at SNA using the small runway. You don't see much ahead of you in a Pitts. O.K., you see nothing ahead of you. I seemed to be able to line up on the small runway without difficulty.

[Dog Star]

Was it really necessary to label this thread "Harrison Ford" lands on taxiway KSNA? Why not "Pilot" lands on taxi way KSNA or "light aircraft" lands on taxi way KSNA? It seems to me to be a bit odd. Administrator: take it down NOW before it is too late and it spreads all over the :mad: internet.

[CaptainMiniBar]

I've been operating out of KSNA for 50 years in everything from a 150 to a 757. Holding short of 20L on Lima is routine for airliners when 20R is landing a GA.

I'm guessing he gets a 709 ride.

[tdracer]

Well, it's better than his "landing" on a golf course.
IIRC, the golf course was a 'forced landing" after the engine quit...

[West Coast]

Was it really necessary to label this thread "Harrison Ford" lands on taxiway KSNA? Why not "Pilot" lands on taxi way KSNA or "light aircraft" lands on taxi way KSNA?

Yes it was.

[Possum1]

Lining up on a small runway is not the problem as this pilot successfully landed on an even smaller "runway." Identifying the correct runway to line up on is, and piano keys would have helped when a pilot is at his/her absolute busiest.

[oleary]

.... give the guy a break.

Nobody got hurt, nothing got bent, sh*t happens.

If you look at the airport layout it is an easy mistake to make.

[pattern_is_full]

And if Harrison is a nice guy (which he is I understand) he'll write a nice "I learnt about flying from that" for all of us to help us understand why it happened so we can all learn from it.

Likely.

He was interviewed on The Actors' Studio TV show once, and a question came up about the dynamic rollover he had in a new Robinson during training.

Interviewer: And what happened to your helicopter?

Ford: It broke...........(long pause).............I broke it.

He'll 'fess up.

[hr2pilot]

From the NBC News article from post #1

But Ford is revered as an excellent pilot in aviation circles. He has been inducted by the Kiddie Hawk Air Academy as a Living Legend of Aviation.

hey guys...give him a break will ya?......he's a living legend no less!

The prestigious Kiddie Hawk Air Academy has inducted him a legend along with the other remarkable people accomplished in aviation such as Paul Allen, Richard Branson, Jimmy Buffet, John Travolta and that famous aviator Tom Cruise (Maverick, don't ya know?).
:rolleyes:

[mickjoebill]

Reported as Harrison Ford in near miss, rather than 110 fare paying passengers in near miss.

In media land, 110 of us, is not worth one of him:)

[sitigeltfel]

“You know how to fly, don’t you?” “...Unhhh, no. Do you?”

Indiana Jones
;)

[Airbubba]

Administrator: take it down NOW before it is too late and it spreads all over the :mad: internet.

Dog Star, are you Sirius? ;)

[Metro man]

At his age, should be even be driving a car on busy roads let alone flying a high performance aircraft ?

[ExSp33db1rd]

At his age, should be even be driving a car on busy roads let alone flying a high performance aircraft ?

'course - you are never going to age and want to keep on driving, or flying, are you ?

If he passes his routine medicals and biennial flight checks who are you to deny him to any age ?

I maintained a CPL until age 75, not for some remuneration but for the qualification required for the voluntary task I wished to perform, and still hold a recreational flying licence, and no, my doctor isn't a "special friend"

and .... how many of those other drivers hurtling towards him on "busy roads " have ever even seen a doctor - have you ?

[vapilot2004]

https://s8.postimg.org/kr4xxzshx/SNA_Approcah.png

"Approach" view of SNA. From left, 'taxiway' A (light colored tarmac adjacent to terminal), taxiway C, 20L (both medium toned), and a dark asphalt 20R, and taxiway B (medium toned, adjacent to GA facilities and control tower).

[Possum1]

The fact that this pilot landed successfully on a "runway" only 10m wide - about the wing span of his aircraft - with the added distraction of a large passenger jet unexpectedly taxiing underneath him when he was about to flare, would indicate that he is not past it just yet.

When he gets his "please explain" letter from the FAA(because this is all this minor incident warrants really), I would recommend that he asks them to tell the airport operator to mark their runway more clearly - at the moment there are no piano keys or even gable markers or cones in use - see previous picture(and just because it is a VFR runway is a pretty weak excuse not to do so).

20R piano keys could do with a repaint too if this hasn't happened already!

In return, he could promise to use all the resources at his disposal before he flies e.g. study Google Earth's representation of the destination airport(s) and work out what each approach will look like etc., and this should be the end of the matter.

As has been mentioned in previous posts, there is plenty at this airport to confuse a pilot and a runway that is hardly distinguishable from its next door taxiway is not helpful.

[bluesideoops]

@ Metro Man high performance aircraft?! It was a Husky! Lol perhaps you were getting confused with the Millenium Falcon? ;-)

[ehwatezedoing]

At his age, should be even be driving a car on busy roads let alone flying a high performance aircraft ?
Husky!? High performance? :ok:

[ChickenHouse]

From the picture of vapilot I hardly get he should have missed the runway. He flies there frequently and he flies a lot and will know that airport very well. If you don't see the numbers on short final, you go around and so will he most probably. Was there a young blonde Indyfan on right seat?

[fireflybob]

My dad was flying until 81 years.

At my local field we have a 92 year old that flies on a regular basis and is mentally more alert than the average 60 year old.

[Pace]

I hope we are not going to make this into an age thing
I remember Harrison Ford flying into a small UK airport a long time ago he is a true aviation enthusiast

Making a mistake like that is not unique not even to airlines
I remember only too well the Ryan air mistake at Londonderry where a 737 approached and landed on a nearby disused airport

The PAX had to be bussed out but the disused airport obviously wasn't identified as such by either the professional Captain or his FO

In a basic aircraft like the Husky it is a pure visual aircraft and hence much more likely that a visual mistake was made
I also ask where were ATC in this ?
Surely they should have told him to Go around as he was landing on a taxiway?

[SATCOS WHIPPING BOY]

I very much doubt ATC would be able to see the difference until the wheels just about touch the tarmac by which time it is over and done with.

[Expatrick]

Was it really necessary to label this thread "Harrison Ford" lands on taxiway KSNA? Why not "Pilot" lands on taxi way KSNA or "light aircraft" lands on taxi way KSNA? It seems to me to be a bit odd. Administrator: take it down NOW before it is too late and it spreads all over the :mad: internet.

All over the news!

[Hotel Tango]

I'm with Pace. Plenty of airliners with two highly qualified "younger" F/D crew have landed/taken-off on the wrong piece of tarmac, or even landed at the wrong airport. Circumstances can confuse anyone at any age. His name, not his actions, is what has made this a headline event.

[Alan Baker]

Re post 32, for the record the "Ryanair 737" was an Eirjet A320 operating a Ryanair flight. Landed at the former RAF Ballykelly instead of City of Derry Airport.

[cattletruck]

Did they charge him the landing fee? :}

Of course you do know what's going to happen if they paint a set of piano keys on that small runway - he'll accidentally land his 737 on it (does he even have one, maybe some other Harrison wannabe will have a crack at it).

[Homsap]

And didn't Dan Air land at the former RAF Nutts Corner on approach to Belfast (Aldergrove) back in the eighties. Again, there were a number of incidents when pilots confused the runways of RAF St. Athan and Cardiff (Rhoose) which had parallel runways a few miles apart, the visual clue was the cement works in between the two, so for St. Athan they needed to be on the right. Also I have a feeling Air Malta had a problem at Gatwick over confusion between the runway and parallel taxiway, again in the eighties.

[Pace]

Re post 32, for the record the "Ryanair 737" was an Eirjet A320 operating a Ryanair flight. Landed at the former RAF Ballykelly instead of City of Derry Airport.

Alan

Thanks for the detailed correction you are correct

[.Scott]

"Approach" view of SNA. From left, 'taxiway' A (light colored tarmac adjacent to terminal), taxiway C, 20L (both medium toned), and a dark asphalt 20R, and taxiway B (medium toned, adjacent to GA facilities and control tower).He was attempting a landing on 20L at approximately high noon (12:06pm) in February. This would have put the sun due south somewhat to his left and overhead, but not high overhead.

Those lighting conditions are different enough from the photos we've seen that I wouldn't rely on them to determine the apparent shades of grays.

Also, when comparing the image provided by vapilot2004 to Google, Google shows the grass as brown not green, and 20L as a closer color match to 20R than to taxiway C.

[pax britanica]

The mighty BA managed to attempt a landing at Bermuda some years ago on a disused runway. Only one actual runway there but a couple of stubs left over from US Navy days. Approaching from London you can see one runway from the intercept heading to the other which is obscured by a chain of low hills. Turned onto approach that one and shortly after startled that end of the island with a go around when they realised, actually that doesn't really look like its 10,000 feet long.

So any one it seems can do it with the right circumstances and its abit unfair on old Han Solo to make such an issue of it. Clearly it is an issue to be investigated by the authorities but in the US there are probably half a dozen a day like it

[noflynomore]

Whilst accepting that "anyone can make a mistake" I struggle to see how this happened. Even on the poor quality image posted above 20L is immediately obvious to someone who has never seen the place before, taxiway C looks nothing like a runway to me and additionally is not immediately adjacent to 20R. I've looked on Google Earth and again struggle to see how a well marked runway (albeit visual markings, but clearly defined markings nonetheless) can be confused with a narrow taxiway adjacent to the apron.
Equally, shouldn't the jet parked on it's "threshold" have indicated some other plan of action?
Still, hardly the end of the world, is it?

[barit1]

On Dad's 90th birthday, we decided to go shoot a couple landings.

He was the legal PIC because my medical had expired. :p

[fdr]

HF's landing in the golf course has been raised in the media and here. Hmmm. I fly a PT-22 occasionally, and while it is fun to fly it glides like a skillet, and has a propensity to have severe stall characteristics, meaning that a stall as often as not results in a departure into an incipient spin. An engine failure in a confined space that doesn't end up badly is hardly something to bitch about. HF is out there keeping private aviation, and historical flight alive in the U.S. Personally I am impressed by the guy.

Landing on a taxiway? at SNA? This is not the first time, nor will it be the last. Remember the neat security cam video of the B738 zipping down the taxiway in a foreign land? As long as taxiways are closely aligned in heading and spacing to the runway human beings will end up with mistakes occurring. You can shoot the victim of poor design, or work on improving the design. One will make you feel superior, the other mitigate the problem.

I have 25K hours, fly my own jets and vintage heavy aircraft as well as aerobatic aircraft. I've learnt enough in 40 years of professional flying, military, RPT, flight test, human factors research, and accident investigation to be careful about the next mistake I make, as I am human, which makes me open to error. I wish I was as perfect as those who are prepared to be disparaging about HF in this or the Cornell engine failure. Personally, I think that he is an inspiration, and would be happy for him to fly any of my aircraft anytime. Right now, I would think HF is the person least likely to ever land on a taxi way again.

[aterpster]

fdr:

I fly a PT-22 occasionally, and while it is fun to fly it glides like a skillet, and has a propensity to have severe stall characteristics, meaning that a stall as often as not results in a departure into an incipient spin. one almost crashed on top of me when I was 12 years old. He stalled out of his third loop showing off in front of his g/f's parents.

[Loose rivets]

At his age, should be even be driving a car on busy roads let alone flying a high performance aircraft ?

What!!?? I had my first car about the time he was born.


The Americans still seem to allow a mix of GA and Airline where possible but here in the southern UK it seems largely barred. Having come from an era when I could and did commute into all the London airfields*, I find it sad, but I can see why it had to stop. Pity, it only cost ten and sixpence to land at LHR and half a crown at Stansted.



(*well, not City, it was still a dock)

[golfyankeesierra]

From an HF (Human factor) standpoint that was an important sign, it is a very important characteristic for a pilot to admit your mistakes, be open about it and not cover them up. Everybody makes mistakes but the important thing how to move on after that. HF (Harrison Ford) :ok:

[Three Lima Charlie]

A local GA airfield (no airline service) with two parallel runways and three parallel taxiways, handles about 1000 operations per day. The tower chief reported at one of the monthly meetings, "Last month we had 12 landings on taxiways, and 3 taxiway takeoffs. The taxiway landings we can blame on the pilot, the takeoffs....we in the tower should have prevented those."

[NWSRG]

And didn't Dan Air land at the former RAF Nutts Corner on approach to Belfast (Aldergrove) back in the eighties.

Homsap...it was actually Langford Lodge (home to Martin Baker, complete with rocket sled track) that Dan Air flew into. I think the realisation came when the crew and passengers noticed the livestock happily grazing alongside the runway!

If you have a look on Google, Aldergrove and Langford are only a few miles apart, and the runways are almost on the same heading...

Poor Harrison...looking at Google, it's easy to see how it happened...

[Hotel Tango]

Guys, you don't have to go as far back as Dan-Air. Plenty of more recent examples.

Remember this one, just to name one (taken from the AvHerald):

Incident: Thomson B738 at Paphos on Sep 21st 2011, landed on taxiway

By Simon Hradecky, created Thursday, Sep 22nd 2011 07:59Z, last updated Thursday, Sep 22nd 2011 08:22Z
A Thomson Airways Boeing 737-800, registration G-CDZH performing flight BY-3350 from Doncaster,EN (UK) to Paphos (Cyprus) with 192 passengers and 7 crew, was on approach to Paphos' runway 29 cleared to land on runway 29 when the aircraft aligned with the parallel taxiway and touched down on that taxiway, no other traffic was on the taxiway at that time. The aircraft rolled out safely and taxied to the apron.

[fdr]

My view on Harrison Ford is stated previously but I reiterate, he is an inspiration to the aviation community. That is similar to another great who recently passed, R.A. Hoover. "Bob" was a superlative pilot, and inspired me when I was 15 years old, when I did some aeros with him in the puke green T-28B. (It was later in the same day I went flying in A P-51D of a lesser known aviator of great talent, Bob Love). How much was I inspired? I own a T-28B and still enjoy presenting that aircraft to the younger generation, and to the guys who flew it in service, most of who have never got old in heart. Bob Hoover bellied in an aircraft after it was filled with Jet A, while the plane unfortunately had pistons. Blaming people for being human is to discredit the fact that being human is why we have achieved the amazing art of flight.

It will be interesting to see what the FAA's local FSDO's response is, however there has been a sea change in the FAA that has gone unnoticed in recent times. The ASI task has emphasis on compliance still but without the mandatory punitive enforcement policy that poisoned what is arguably one of the premier regulatory authorities on the planet. The original aim of the FAA in the Act was to promote aviation, and that sadly remains defunct, but at least the FAA is getting back to what they do best rather than being the local arm of law enforcement. They will still take punitive action when circumstances warrant such, and so they should, but being human in this day of understanding of human behaviour and risk mitigation should not invoke penalties without Mens Rea.

Human error events highlight opportunities to improve system safety. Punitive action hides the truth by suppressing open reporting. Harrison Ford will be angry with himself, he has that level of personal awareness and integrity; wish there were more people with those ethics around.

[obgraham]

I truly cannot believe how many of you professional pilots are excusing this incident with the old "it happens a lot" argument, and then bringing up commercial airliner incidents. There is no comparison.

Ford was landing a GA airplane at an airport with a lot of commercial traffic. This should be a "high attention" environment for the recreational pilot. He was directed to the short runway, likely the one Rec pilots almost always use there. He knew the field well, and lands there a lot.

And then, he fails to see the big numbers on the end of the runway, or to grasp the visual image of the runway and its width in front of him, and lands on a very narrow taxiway instead.

No. Sorry. He lost the plot. Should have gone around.

[galaxy flyer]

Chicken House

From the picture of vapilot I hardly get he should have missed the runway. He flies there frequently and he flies a lot and will know that airport very well. Was there a young blonde Indyfan on right seat?

Do you know anything about a Husky?

Hint: tandem seating

[aterpster]

obgraham,

He knew the field well, and lands there a lot.

Are you certain of that? Ford's hangars and airplanes are all at KSMO.

[bookworm]

Also I have a feeling Air Malta had a problem at Gatwick over confusion between the runway and parallel taxiway, again in the eighties.

Indeed the incident (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5422f212e5274a13170003d5/3-1994_9H-ABA.pdf) (actually 1993) has a few similarities. As at SNA where 20L is closer to the taxiway than it is to 20R, at Gatwick 26R is closer to taxiway 2 than it is to 26L.

[Pace]

Obgraham

I don't think anyone is trying to minimise the potential of a collision landing on a taxiway ?
I found it hard to comprehend how the Airbus landing with two professional pilots on a disused airfield could do so?
Ok some way out it's understandable but surely two sets of eyes must have picked up visual clues that this was a disused and not an active runway
Yet they landed off that
There is a huge similarity
Commercial airline mistakes were used to combat the tone of the thread relating to his age and to identify why even experienced professional pilots will do such crazy things under pressure
The airline examples were used to highlight a problem which works across the board rather than just to the inexperienced or old GA pilot

[noflynomore]

He knew the field well, and lands there a lot.
Are you certain of that? Ford's hangars and airplanes are all at KSMO.

Chickenhouse said so, post 31.

Do you know anything about a Husky?

Hint: tandem seating


Then tandem, long nosed and probably many other pilots should be extra careful about what it is they think they're lining up on. That's a weak, weak excuse.

Hint: sideslip and observation.

A better "commercial" analogy to this would be the jet that nearly landed on the Bath Rd having mistaken it for the runway.
Mr Ford's question "Was that jet supposed to be underneath me" suggests he was happy that he was accurately lined up on the landing strip - as indeed he was, until something out of the ordinary at the last moment told him something wasn't right. It just wasn't the right strip. Somehow he convinced himself that the strip he lined up on was the correct one but he evidently didn't verify that sufficiently in the first instance and then failed to reverify it throughout the rest of the approach all the way to touchdown. (= fat, dumb and happy. Complacency is a poor place to be at a complex international field) But why carry on to touchdown after seeing that? Suggests to me the antennae weren't sufficiently deployed to immediately think something's VERY wrong here, so Go Around!

I do agree that HF is probably the least likely person on earth to make that mistake again so nowt worse than a rather publicly hard-learned lesson.

[172driver]

One thing that can catch you out at KSNA are the different color taxiways. Add to that a landing into a low sun in haze....

See here:
https://skyvector.com/sites/default/files/media/images/20150214_113029.JPG

[Loose rivets]

"Bob" was a superlative pilot, and inspired me when I was 15 years old, when I did some aeros with him in the puke green T-28B. (It was later in the same day I went flying in A P-51D of a lesser known aviator of great talent, Bob Love).


Aircraft flown entirely by Roberts







Apologies to NTNOCN

[galaxy flyer]

My Husky point was there us NO right seat.

GF

[ExSp33db1rd]

After one of our pilots landed at the wrong airport ( I know of 3 such incidents during my employment ) our esteemed Manager threatened the next criminal with the sack. He then went and landed at USAF base Burtonwood instead of Manchester Ringway. He didn't sack himself.

One incident involved the crew landing at Cartierville (? name ?) GA airport just
north of the then Dorval Montreal international airport. A private pilot in a Cessna saw the landing and thought " The mighty XXXX airline can't be wrong" so he went and landed at Dorval !

[galaxy flyer]

True story, still told in the bar next to Dorval by the senior citizens. Cartierville is now an apartment complex and gold course.

GF

[oleary]

:ugh:Reported as Harrison Ford in near miss, rather than 110 fare paying passengers in near miss.

In media land, 110 of us, is not worth one of him:)
Dude, it wasn't a "near miss". Get a grip.

[ATC Watcher]

Landing on parallel taxiways are relatively common , lining up on one even more, and in most cases not by inexperienced pilots. Give the guy a break , he made the headlines because of his name , not because of his mistake .

Reminds me a good one , during the earthquake relief for Yerevan some years back a Russian IL76 landed in Frankfurt in the middle taxiway between the 2 parallel runways , luckily no one was taxing on it at the time.
After a good R/T rebuff that got no answer , the crew came up the Tower with 6 bottles of Vodka , and said only one word in English : "Sorry "

[Geosync]

“You know how to fly, don’t you?” “...Unhhh, no. Do you?”

Indiana Jones
;)
Then Jonesy learned a little bit over the years, but not enough-
Dr. Jones Sr. asks if he can fly-
"Fly yes...land, NO!"

The Last Crusade

[ATC Watcher]

From another thread on the R&N on the same subject :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wi58Ds3Krgw
errare humanum est;)

[dsc810]

Latest...
Harrison Ford's Radio Missteps On Takeoff Before Botched Taxiway Landing | TMZ.com (http://www.tmz.com/2017/02/17/harrison-ford-plane-radio-communication-mistakes-taxiway/)

[KKoran]

I hope we are not going to make this into an age thing
I remember Harrison Ford flying into a small UK airport a long time ago he is a true aviation enthusiast

Making a mistake like that is not unique not even to airlines
I remember only too well the Ryan air mistake at Londonderry where a 737 approached and landed on a nearby disused airport

The PAX had to be bussed out but the disused airport obviously wasn't identified as such by either the professional Captain or his FO

In a basic aircraft like the Husky it is a pure visual aircraft and hence much more likely that a visual mistake was made
I also ask where were ATC in this ?
Surely they should have told him to Go around as he was landing on a taxiway?

According to Google Earth, the distance between the centerlines of RWY 20L and TWY C is only 240 ft. From the tower, the angular difference between 1/4 mile final for RWY 20L and 1/4 mile final for RWY C is only about 4.3 degrees--not likely to catch a controller's attention. Additionally, because the runways are so closely spaced, aircraft fly an angled final to RWY 20L.

[ATC Watcher]

KKoran , absolutely correct extremely difficult to judge from the distance. I would add that it is also not the first task of a TWR controller, and by far , to monitor visual APP alignments of VFR traffic. A VFR visual APP is not a PAR

As to the audio : call sign confusion , who never did that jumping from one aircrfat to another ? and forgetting to push the "next" on the VHF ( or just not pressing it hard enough) ? common , we all did that , and not only once. OK he sound tired , or maybe just focusing on something worrying him on the aircraft. Not his day but not worth all those comments about age and asking to pull his licence. I'd fly with the guy anytime and would almost certainly learn something in the process. Great guy and great GA pilot. Check him on the EAA web site.

[noflynomore]

Poor fella wasn't having a good day at all, was he? There's more to this than a mere landing error I'm afraid, he sounded confused and detached from the task on his RT and although anyone can mis-speak a callsign once very few pilots indeed could bungle it so badly three times, and get confused whether they are in f/w or a helicopter, and fail to change frequency, AND when corrected not sound the least bit apologetic or even interested in what had just happened. Such an event almost invariably results in a much crisper finish to the exchange - he just sounded bored with the whole affair. That level of lip stall and tongue buffet is usually gone in a 20hr PPL stude. It's hard to tell with the sloppy American RT whther the content of the call was there or not (state QNH or readback clearance for instance?) but there's no hint of crispness in his transmissions, and that followed by the inexplicable taxiway landing suggests to me there is more to this than meets the eye. Indeed, he couldn't have sounded less like a light a/c PPL heading carefully and alert into heavy jet territory if he'd tried. In every photo I see of that airport the VFR runway jumps out at me and I have to look hard to identify where the taxiway is, let alone say I can actually "see" it with confidence - I just cannot imagine how anyone made that error especially if there was a monking great airliner sitting on the "threshold" too.

[That SAR Chap]

^ This.

I am also surprised by the warmth towards this event. There was a 737 parked on the 'threshold' to HF's runway. He knew it was there and still flew over the top of it. His R/T was shambolic and distracted - at best he was not up to the task; at worst, he wasn't paying attention. Neither gets excused so easily for me.

Granted, we all make mistakes, but in aviation mistakes are often an indicator that someone needs more training or a change of licence. That decision is up to the FAA.

As for excusing the landing on the rationale that it's easy to mistake the taxiway for a runway... 172Driver's photo doesn't look like that to me:

https://skyvector.com/sites/default/files/media/images/20150214_113029.JPG

[KelvinD]

The airport has just released CCTV footage of the incident:
Footage released of Harrison Ford's plane near-miss - BBC News (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-39048670)

[guadaMB]

Another video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAlY_T8mhEQ

[pchapman]

I watched one of the videos that are out on news sites. I see that some of the previous news reports gave an incorrect impression.

It looks like Harrison wasn't faced with an airliner under his glide path when he started his approach. The route was clear and then the airliner taxied forwards so that only on reasonably short final was he presented with an airliner in front of him.

Thus the airliner taxied in front of an aircraft on approach to land -- although the airliner was in the right place and Harrison wasn't. It doesn't change anything else about what happened that day though.

[kenish]

I'm typing this 3 miles from KSNA, my "home base" as a private pilot. To cut through speculation about 20L being difficult to tell apart from Taxiway C, the runway has several cues:

Big "20" and "L" .
Chevrons pointing to the threshold.
White edge and centerline on 20L, yellow on Charlie per international standards.
REIL (pair of strobes, "Runway End Identifier Lights", guess they didn't serve their purpose).
VASIs on the right-hand side of the runway (side farthest away from C)
IFR hold bars on both sides of the runway at intersecting taxiways.

20L is not a precision IFR runway, hence markings are VFR and better than most airports. As far as brown grass, it's very green right now due to our epic rainfall. :)

I hope it all works out for him...with the other errors and detached demeanor, perhaps a medical issue?

[ethicalconundrum]

My first landing at KSNA was 1974. We parked the Citabria just off the threshold of what is now due east of 20L, a bit east of the taxiway in question. Landed there many times since, visiting my office, and a g/f. Back then, we were allowed to take off from the taxiway with 'pilot discretion'. I never landed on it, but I can see how it is done. I've also landed there in a Piper J4(rear seat), C-210N, and a few other things. I've made one approach to 20R, but broke off and switched to the left at request of tower(fairly common).

I don't think they should put piano bars on 20L. If we are going to be confused about 20L being a runway or not, the trouble with adding piano bars is now it may look too much like 20R! Even though it is much shorter and narrower. Also, it has had chevrons on it for decades, and of course the taxiway never had them.

Ford uses his toys on unimproved strips, back country strips, and all over the country in and out of narrow and short landing fields. The taxiway he was lined up for prolly looked like a mega-runway to someone used to the sight picture of an 1800'x25' paved or gravel runway. Given that he was in the Husky, and that he's landed the heli in unimproved areas, this may have thrown off his aim.

The last thing one wants to do at KSNA as a PPL is interfere with 20R that has major traffic from Al overcast(well, 737s anyway) planes. Getting run over on short final by a comm plane would ruin everyone's day. So - I always cheated to the left a little, even on quiet times, just so I would NEVER be a burden, or make a mistake of 20R for 20L. I think this might be fairly common with PPLs like myself, but it's only op-ed. If one cheats to the left a little, and rolls out a bit early from downwind, it might be easy to line up with the taxiway, and leave it at that - knowing you would not be interfering with 20R.

Having said all this blather, there is no excuse, and no matter his celebrity, we are all the same once we strap on the plane. A series of small mistakes along the way portend that he wasn't really up to the challenge of aviating at his best. If I had made this mistake(I'm not perfect), and were mid-70s age, I would call the FAA, prostrate myself, issue the most formal of mea-culpa, schedule proactive radio and landing training, take my 709 ride, and do anything they asked. I might also go on a SoCal radio or talk show and apologize to the fans and other pilots out there that he has to mollify to stay in the good graces and be allowed to retain his privilege for a bit longer.

YMMV, don't try this at home, contents have settled, and may cause anal leakage.

[barit1]

Wrong runway? Taxiway vs rwy?

By no means the first such event, but one with notoriety: TWA@KOSU July 4 1967 - Airliners.net (http://www.airliners.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=530899)

[Airbubba]

Audio of the phone call to the tower:

3PpvtUJcteM

"I'm the schmuck who landed on the taxiway." :(

[The Sultan]

FAA closes investigation with no action.

[madhon]

FAA closes investigation with no action.

So a celeb gets let off with a slap on the wrist and "dont do it again if you can", If this had been just an ordinary person the book would be thrown at them :ugh:.

[captbod]

He will receive airman councelling, is there such a thing???

[givdrvr]

To my understanding, the FAA has in recent years become a strong advocate for Voluntary Safety Reporting Programs (VSRP). If any airman, including the subject airman, files a ASRS, ASAP, ATSAP, etc on an incident and willful negligence is not the root cause then a robust safety event review is the likely outcome. In exchange, the FAA gets the full candid story to add to its database for system safety analysis.

[peekay4]

So a celeb gets let off with a slap on the wrist and "dont do it again if you can", If this had been just an ordinary person the book would be thrown at them :ugh:.

No, he is treated exactly like an ordinary person would be treated.

The FAA has a long history of not using enforcement actions for these types of unintentional "honest mistakes" -- as long is the pilot is cooperative and otherwise competent -- and especially if the pilot self-discloses the error (e.g., via ASRS forms or even by radio as Harrison Ford did).

And in 2015 the FAA officially changed its Compliance Policy to one of non-enforcement, as part of a "just culture" safety philosophy:

https://www.faa.gov/about/initiatives/cp/

"The Compliance Philosophy represents a focus on using – where appropriate – non-enforcement methods, or "Compliance Action." Compliance Action is a new term to describe the FAA's non-enforcement methods for correcting unintentional deviations or noncompliance that arise from factors such as flawed systems and procedures, simple mistakes, lack of understanding, or diminished skills. A Compliance Action is not adjudication, nor does it constitute a finding of violation.

Examples of Compliance Actions include on-the-spot corrections, counseling, and additional training (including remedial training)."

He will receive airman councelling, is there such a thing???

Yes, typically it's a one-to-one meeting with an FAA Safety Team (FAASTeam) representative.

[ethicalconundrum]

So a celeb gets let off with a slap on the wrist and "dont do it again if you can", If this had been just an ordinary person the book would be thrown at them :ugh:.

I'm fairly certain that Ford has made self-enforced reporting, and more than likely some self-directed training. This would lead to a finding of non-negligent non-safety related closure of his case, showing that he's learned his lesson, and will go forth and sin no more. I've seen this very same action in the case of Joe Bagodonuts pilot who admits, submits, takes training, and shows responsibility.