Continental 757 Lands on Taxiway at EWR
 

http://www.nypost.com/seven/10312006...emy_olshan.htm

Note that this was about sunset, directly into the sun on the "cross wind" runway at the North end of the airport. As a SLF having landed at EWR hundreds of times, landing on 29 is rare, and only under extreme wind conditions, as existed on 10/28, with winds over 50 MPH. I would not be surprised if the guys involved had never used this runway. Still no excuse.....

To get this thing down on a 70' taxiway under the conditions that existed is good.

Actually, it the one on the RIGHT. The one on the left is near the terminals and is heavily utilized.

I should think the landing was intended for Rwy 29, at the top of the airport plate.
http://66.226.83.248/aptdiag/FAA/00285AD.gif
Your picture says it's of Rwy 1/19. It probably means 4/22.

What about being a so called human being?
Are you one of the super hero who never does a mistake, or is this only the attribute of the airline pilot :}

Sorry Platinum ..... posted the wrong photo link so deleted .... :ok:

Continental 757 Lands on Taxiway at EWR
 

Did something similar happen to a same carrier's aircraft in december 1983 (but it was heavily snowing at that time)?
It seems to my memory that Frank Lorenzo was in the jump seat of a ship controlled by a brand new non striking captain.
Please FLY SAFELY
DOVES

DOVES, you are correct, it happened going into Stapleton on a DC-9, I think Frankie boy was in the back though.

There was a DC9 which crashed at old DEN in the late '80s; I think it was '87 or '88; however, I believe the taxiway incident was a DC10 at Houston; no damage, although captain and FO subsequently were dismissed.

F4F agreed people do make mistakes, however some are acceptable and some are not; although there were no injuries or loss of life this was a potentially dangerous situation and as such the mistake IMHO is unacceptable.
Am I just being naive here?

With the warning on the bottom of the page, I've decided to withdraw my story. It perhaps suggests I'm human...

Perhaps in this situation it would be more appropriate to request a crosswind runway if available? Obviously this has its drawbacks too, but it's easy to see from both accounts how easy it can be to get the wrong bit of tarmac into sun.

The DC-9 that crashed (COA1713, IIRC) and the DC-9 that landed on a taxiway with Frankie in the back -both- occurred at Stapleton, i.e. two separate deals...

It rather depends on the wind, the aircraft limits and whether an alternative is available. I've landed on 22L in the past on the limits of my aircraft (777) which has a 40kt dry crosswind limit. Given the choice on the day, I'd have gone for 29 but it wasn't available.

We all make mistakes. The principles of threat and error management require us to use all available resources (CRM), but this does not eliminate human error.
Thus, for specific situations the human requires timely warning systems.

In this instance we should consider something like Runway Advisory Awareness System (RAAS).

RAAS like its counterpart EGPWS, alerts crews to their errors just as much as alerting to a specific threat (terrain or landing on an inappropriate runway).
What we humans require is a threat and error detector, i.e EGPWS and RAAS.

Update:
 

Co-pilot flying. Pilot experienced but not necessarily on the 757. A miracle no other planes were taxying at the time not to mention the fact there were no service vehicles out there either.

Crew reportedly realized their mistake after landing and communicated that fact to ATC.

Glad to see nobody got hurt. Mistakes happen. Thr only people who don't make them are people who don't do very much in the first place.

Newarksmells

Well said!!!!!!!:D

Have you ever flown into EWR?

Curious why as there is no published approach for Rwy 29 there was not some heightened awareness that this was to all intents and purposes a non-standard approach. Was a visual approach advisable at at this time of the evening into either darkness or a setting sun? As for the "we all make mistakes" scenario, the only difference between landing on an empty taxiway Z to the North, or a fully loaded taxiway W to the south was manifest by a poorly written piece of sensationalist nonsense in the NY Post versus an all out tragedy of unthinkable proportions. Most people can understand the chain of events that led up to the Kentucky disaster and think of regional jets, small airports, and busy schedules as contributing factors. It is a sobering thought that this event happened to a major Part 121 Carrier at its home base.

There is an approach to 29, it is an RNAV/VNAV aaproach that places you
on a nice stabilized final to 29, it can be accessed from the database on the 757 in question.

Atc, though does not like us using this as it place us too far out on the base leg for their taste, however cutting inside the course is quite feasible ( you have to be visual anyway)

29 is not 'rarely used', it is used quite commonly, especially with strong winds out of the northwest.

Things like this happen to the best. Some simulator training and these guys will be back, albeit humbled. Landing into the setting sun can completely eliminate visual cues like runway markings and rubber deposits. If the runway didn't have an ILS to crosscheck, then the mistake was all but made.