Take-off from taxiway at ANC

[Denny Yen 0]

This incident mirros exactly what happened in 2002, when CI took off under similar conditions.

http://www.flightinternational.com/Article...y+take-off.html

FAA studies EVA taxiway take-off

 

The US Federal Aviation Administration has opened an investigation into a flightcrew error that resulted in an EVA Air cargo aircraft taking off from a taxiway at Anchorage International airport in Alaska earlier this month.

 

The regulator declines to comment further than confirming that an investigation has been opened. However, a US National Transportation Safety Board investigator has separately confirmed that the incident involved an EVA Air Boeing MD-11 freighter and the taxiway parallel to Runway 32 at Anchorage.

 

According to local reports, the incident occurred on 5 November when the aircraft was redirected by air traffic control to Runway 32 during taxi. However, instead of turning onto the runway, the pilot reportedly ended up on the shorter taxiway to the west of the runway.

 

The aircraft took off and completed its flight to Taipei without incident, according to the NTSB investigator.

 

This event mirrors a similar taxiway take-off incident involving and Airbus A340-300 operated by fellow Taiwanese carier China Airlines in January 2002.

 

The error is so glaringly similar to the SQ006 incident in TPE/RCTP. Just a month ago, on the eve of SQ006 annivesary, Taiwanese cable news made a special TV documentary. They talked to those (lawyers, investigators, pilots, rescuers, victims) involved in SQ006 incident. The TV show reported that there were 10 clues for the pilots. Had they paid more attention to any one / some of these 10 clues, the error could have been rectified.

 

The 10 clues were:

- Airport navigation diagram

- A/c heading reference

- Taxiway centerline lights

- Rwy centerline lights

- Signage

- Color of centerline lights leading into taxiway and rwy

- Rwy edge lights

- Para-Visual Display - to show if aligned to correct rwy localizer

- Primary Flight Display

- Width difference between rwy and taxiway

 

[Mohd Nizam 0]

Well, Aren't pilot suppose to monitor all these clues ..? I wonder why they miss all of the clues, It's a straight cut pilot error. And of course i'm not in that plane jumpseat and i don't know what exactly distracted the pilot's.

[TW Teo 0]

SQ006 attempted to take-off from a lighted up closed runway didn't it? 1/2 of the clues don't apply... unless it's taxiways.

[S V Choong 4]

Great, now I shall add another airline to my "no fly" list.

 

And of course i'm not in that plane jumpseat and i don't know what exactly distracted the pilot's

 

Female flight attendants perhaps?

[Ibrahim 0]

hope their pax already wear a seat belt

[Denny Yen 0]

The rwy was closed and was marked "Not in use" on the Notam and airport diagram. It was partially opened for use as taxiway.

 

There were disputes about lighting, markings not in conformity with int'l standards, threshold lighting too closely spaced, etc. The airport mgmt escaped must of the blame. However, these factors were weighted against the 10 clues. And the most glaring of all: 1 continuous 180deg turn vs two 90deg turns.

 

As for the lighting clue, there was uncertainty of how it actually appeared on that typhoon night. The a/c's light beam plus surface water, winds and heavy rains could have "washed-out" the lighting's colors. This issue was never conclusively settled although simulation recreating that typhoon conditions revealed no wash-out.

 

Nevertheless, in a Californian court case, which awarded USD15mil to 2 next-of-kins whose parents died; the court referred to these 10 clues and did not exclude them. As a result, these were entered into evidence and therefore, were made available to the jury panel to consider the compensation sum.

 

Following this court decision, 12 other similar lawsuits were later settled out of court...presumably because the earlier decision gave some indication of their probable outcome.

[Nicholas Wan 0]

aik..i thought all runways has a big number on it and the towers will know the position on the planes on the ground.

[Norman 1]

Also in Gatwick, they LANDED ON Taxiway

 

http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19931020-0

 

[Mohd Nizam 0]

Norman,

 

Did the ICAO recomend anything after this accident ..?