Plane Lands on Taxiway at KSEA

Wow, it took a week for this to make JC?

AS flight was on approach to 16R, was asked by tower if they could accept 16C (which had just reopened, that day, or the day before)...didn't back it up with an approach, used the Mk.1 eyeball...and landed on Taxiway Tango (runs the length between 16R and 16C, it looks like a runway). This isn't the first, and probably won't be the last. It was a morning where it could happen...sunbreaks, wet runways, and lots of glare (I took off from 16C about an hour before this happened, and we talked about how you couldn't see runway markings because of the glare)

Just don't throw stones in glass houses

NTSB/FAA recommendations in 2004 after Jazz landed on T (AA did it before them)
http://www.ntsb.gov/safety/_layouts/ntsb.recsearch/Recommendation.aspx?Rec=A-04-048
 
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Reminds me of SouthernJet, after a long South American return flight, sidestepping to 27R last minute and landing on Twy M at ATL.

That's why we don't sidestep, or allowed to sidestep without a note from the President partially.
 
Never been to SEA, but I do recall rummaging throught my Jepps and seeing a notice about this very thing.
 
A80TRACON said:
Reminds me of SouthernJet, after a long South American return flight, sidestepping to 27R last minute and landing on Twy M at ATL.

That's why we don't sidestep, or allowed to sidestep without a note from the President partially.
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Better call SLC.

I turned down a sidestep request inside the marker and got a "Is there a reason you wouldn't accept the sidestep?" on ground.
 
Derg said:
Better call SLC.

I turned down a sidestep request inside the marker and got a "Is there a reason you wouldn't accept the sidestep?" on ground.
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"Uhh, yeah. Because you gave it to me way late in the game dude!"

I'm on board with you. Pretty much anything inside the marker, you are committed to the piece of pavement in front of you, not the one "over there."
 
A80TRACON said:
That's lame on their part. So glad I've retired.
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mshunter said:
"Uhh, yeah. Because you gave it to me way late in the game dude!"

I'm on board with you. Pretty much anything inside the marker, you are committed to the piece of pavement in front of you, not the one "over there."
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I think the problem is that they're only doing that because a lot of other pilots in that size of aircraft have gleefully accepted it.

In the era of a continuous datastream uplink and FOQA datamining coupled with a heavy emphasis on stabilized approach criteria, the company already knows what you're doing and is (a) about ready to drop the information on the desk at a hearing or (b) wait until you break something and bring down the hammer.

Looking cool and being the "good guy" isn't high on my list of priorities with SLC ATC.
 
This happened frequently at PBI. Taxiway Lima has been partially painted green to make it look thinner as a deterrent.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I wouldn't think side-steps are a blanket subject. There is a big difference between, say, accepting a side step at an airport with a relatively confusing layout like SEA vs. SFO where the runways are barely a football field apart.
 
Didn't even have to click the thread to know it was Tango. Warnings everywhere but people make mistakes unfortunately.

O and SLC ATC is terrible.
 
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ChasenSFO said:
I wouldn't think side-steps are a blanket subject. There is a big difference between, say, accepting a side step at an airport with a relatively confusing layout like SEA vs. SFO where the runways are barely a football field apart.
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Also, there isn't a taxiway between the parallel runways at SFO.
 
gotWXdagain said:
Also, there isn't a taxiway between the parallel runways at SFO.
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i.e. a relatively confusing layout.

I get that it may be a bad idea there, but I don't see the problem with small side-steps a few miles out(not 1 or 2, but enough to safely stabilize) in VFR conditions with close parallels. At SFO, it can make the difference between a 28 departure getting out now or sitting 15-20 minutes if it is the only gap. Pilots love to say "well they should have sorted that out when they lined up the finals"...but...aviation is fluid. Things change, there are unforeseen variables, and ATC has tin to push. We have humans on both ends instead of robots so we can think outside of the box and take initiative when it is both safe and operationally viable to do so. There should be middle ground between "this is 100% safe all the time with a 40 mile buffer zone around it" and "OK, I don't think there is any realistic chance this will lead to anything close to an incident and it will really help out everybody involved". I know, SOPs and stuff, but I am a firm believer everyone needs to play their part or not complain about the congestion.
 
For those who haven't been to Seattle, Tango is pretty easy to find...but throw in glare, day VFR, approach lights not turned on and no electronic backup, well you've got a recipe for this kind of thing to happen. End of the day, it's up to us to make sure we know where the airplane is going/doing at all times.
1000px-Seattle-Tacoma_International_Airport_diagram(2).svg.png
 
SurferLucas said:
For those who haven't been to Seattle, Tango is pretty easy to find...but throw in glare, day VFR, approach lights not turned on and no electronic backup, well you've got a recipe for this kind of thing to happen. End of the day, it's up to us to make sure we know where the airplane is going/doing at all times.
1000px-Seattle-Tacoma_International_Airport_diagram(2).svg.png
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So why don't they fire up the approach lights if they give a sidestep?
 
Aha...Tango does it again. It's time to put some sort of blinding reflectors, if you ever lined up with this taxiway;)
 
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I think it'd be a good idea to change the shape of the taxiway, since it being totally parallel to the runway is a huge factor in its part-time runway duty. Obviously to tear the whole thing up would be stupid expensive, but I wonder about the possibility of adding a non-structural asphalt or concrete curve on alternating sides of the taxiway so that the shape is different from the runway, making it easier to pick out even if you can't see the markings on the surface itself.
 
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