757 lands on EWR taxiway by mistake

In article .com,
wrote:

Jay, I've basically only seen the Dubai Airport, and clearly remember
that the taxiways are about a third or a quarter of the runway width.
Unless the airport you mention was quite different, it strikes me as
quite improbable that a strip of asphalt as slender as a taxiway can be
mistaken for a runway. Again of course, in VMC, I suppose all bets are
off, but in VFR??

It all comes down to what you are used to. I did alot of my training
at a field with a 40ft wide runway. Compared to that, a 50ft taxi
way is really wide. My exwife learned at the same field, and going
into one of the other local small fields with her instructor, lined
up on the narrow crumbling taxiway, completely not noticing the
75ft wide freshly paved runway right next to it. She was expecting
narrow old pavement, not fresh blacktop. Her instructor pointed
out her error before the landed.

Taxiway Alpha at Livermore (LVK) is just north of 25R is nearly
as wide as 25L. It even has 'TAXI' painted on it in big letters
to remind pilots not to land there.

Google Maps satellite view of LVK (watch the wrap):

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=e...k&om=1&iwloc=A

Tinyurl of the above link: http://tinyurl.com/yyqwqq

Real fun is landing at Harris Ranch (3O8). The runway is only 30ft
wide. The wingspan of a Piper Cherokee is 35ft.

John
--
John Clear - http://www.clear-prop.org/

schrieb:

Jay, I've basically only seen the Dubai Airport, and clearly remember
that the taxiways are about a third or a quarter of the runway width.
Unless the airport you mention was quite different, it strikes me as
quite improbable that a strip of asphalt as slender as a taxiway can be
mistaken for a runway.

Taxyways are not only narrower, but illuminated differently. (Remember,
it was night.)

Again of course, in VMC, I suppose all bets are
off, but in VFR??

????

Stefan

wrote:
Jay, I've basically only seen the Dubai Airport, and clearly remember
that the taxiways are about a third or a quarter of the runway width.
Unless the airport you mention was quite different, it strikes me as
quite improbable that a strip of asphalt as slender as a taxiway can be
mistaken for a runway. Again of course, in VMC, I suppose all bets are
off, but in VFR??

I fly in and out of the same airport as Jay. Trust me ... it's possible.
He and I are by no means the only ones that have mistaken the taxiway
for a runway. I don't know the dimensions, but I don't think our
taxiways are that much narrower than our runways.

Stefan wrote:

schrieb:

Again of course, in VMC, I suppose all bets are
off, but in VFR??

????

Obviously meant "IMC."

--
Peter

I prefer narrower runways for light aircraft. It's easier to judge the
flare height. Others?

On Tue, 31 Oct 2006 19:54:22 -0500, Roy Smith wrote:

sarcasm
But they were on a flight plan, and the tower was fully staffed, so how
could anything have gone wrong?
/sarcasm

Somebody used a non-PMA indicator light in the coffee maker.

Screw around with landing lights all you want. But keep your
nonsanctioned parts away from my coffee maker!

- Andrew

wrote:
Not saying that it wasn't an error but if
the PF didn't even have the chance to see anything visually outside, it
could explain things.

Here's the weather on Oct 28 in Newark:
http://www.weather.com/weather/pastw...=0&when=102806

In case that page is not valid later, I'll summarize it he

It rained that morning, but did not rain after noon.

5:51pm: Mostly cloudy and windy. Felt like 52F. Dew point 38F. 59%
humidity. Visiblity 10 miles. Pressure 29.26. Wind 28mph from West.

Sunset 5:58pm

Plane landed 6:31pm

6:51pm: Partly cloudy. Felt like 52F. Dew point 34F. 50% humidity.
Visiblity 10 miles. Pressure 29.28. Wind 22mph from West.

"Jay Beckman" wrote

It's entirely possible. I did it (more than once actually) while training for
my Private certificate.

Lined up perfectly for what I was certain was RWY 4R when in fact it was a
taxiway. Fortunately, I discovered my error in plenty of time to slide over a
bit.

It happens at OSH about once a year, on 18/36, but they land on Papa, and do not
catch it in time, and actually land.
--
Jim in NC

I just landed at Ft. Myers (RSW) yesterday, and they are intentionally using
the taxiway as a runway while the runway is being repaired.

Mike Schumann

wrote in message
...
wrote:
Jay, I've basically only seen the Dubai Airport, and clearly remember
that the taxiways are about a third or a quarter of the runway width.
Unless the airport you mention was quite different, it strikes me as
quite improbable that a strip of asphalt as slender as a taxiway can be
mistaken for a runway. Again of course, in VMC, I suppose all bets are
off, but in VFR??

I fly in and out of the same airport as Jay. Trust me ... it's possible.
He and I are by no means the only ones that have mistaken the taxiway
for a runway. I don't know the dimensions, but I don't think our
taxiways are that much narrower than our runways.

John Clear wrote:
Real fun is landing at Harris Ranch (3O8). The runway is only 30ft
wide. The wingspan of a Piper Cherokee is 35ft.

When I was up in Cedar Rapids, I had my plane based at C17... The
asphalt was 26 ft wide... They claimed that the runway was a combination
of turn and asphalt that was 100 ft wide, but since they noted that
there was a rough transition between the turf and the asphalt, it's not
like you wanted to go off the pavement... Coming in the first time at
night, it sure seemed narrow... You get used to it after awhile though...