A friend and I were looking at a report about Harrison Ford’s plane mistakenly landing on a taxiway at the Orange County airport at a time when the identity of the pilot(s) was unknown. (a follow-up from Variety, the official aviation news source for Hollywood)
I said “Obviously this couldn’t have been an airline crew because the plane was landed at the correct airport.” (example of airline heroics.)
[Of course the taxiway landing has happened in the airline world as well. Here’s a piece about Alaska Airlines landing a 737 on a taxiway at the airline’s home airport.]
How can we avoid being the subject of similar articles? One of my early instructors was an American Eagle regional jet pilot. He taught me to look for the black tire marks on either side of the centerline, the result of jets landing at high speeds. “That’s how you know it is a runway and not a taxiway.”
Separately, note that this unfortunate landing was much less dangerous than the taxiway landings that have been done in heavy jets. The two-seat Aviat Husky has a crazy amount of power for its weight and the piston engine develops power immediately. If another airplane had been directly in front of Ford on the taxiway he could have added power and been back up in the air within a few seconds. With an airliner the engines take a long time to spool back up to full power. At about 50′ above the ground the thrust levers come back and you’re more or less committed to the landing.
Related:
but for the rules, he could have landed on the grass.
According to the Aviat website, a Husky can land in 350 feet and take off in 200. Maybe he’s not used to bothering with an airport. I read somewhere that he might be penalized; I hope not to severely. From all accounts he’s a pretty accomplished pilot.
> He taught me to look for the black tire marks on either side of the centerline, the result of jets landing at high speeds. “That’s how you know it is a runway and not a taxiway.”
Except for new or repaved runways? From the Alaska Airlines strory you’ve linked to:
“According to the Business Journal, just days before the incident, the Port of Seattle had repaved one of the runways. It didn’t have the usual black tire marks that runways usually have, which might have led to the pilot’s confusion.”
It signifies a legend heading into the twilight of his years.
Seems like ABC News is going out of its way to shame the guy. Reported on it two nights
in a row. Of course, I have noted a fair level of duplication of stories lately between ABC News and Entertainment Tonight. It seems that ABC News has become more entertainment focused lately.