I guess when you have access to so many different types of aircraft you get confused, although not sure how one can mistake a Husky for a Helicopter. I would argue there is some cognitive issues going on and if he keeps flying by himself he is risking a serious accident. The sign of a good pilot is to know when it's time to hang it up! Or at least have another qualified pilot fly with you!  

 

 

no situation awareness disorientation etc... 

Still it could of gone real bad, question you would ask yourself here is  why no go-around? That is perplexing. especially he had seen the 737 holding short. The fatigue thing definitely can catch up to anyone even experienced crew, Harrison was lucky in that situation, everyone walked away ok and there was no damage. Reminds me when flying at my airport, a pilot commented he cannot think a pilot would be mistaking a taxiway for a runway til one day he was lined up on a nice and clear day on the parrallel taxiway . we had some discussions about it afterwards and he could not believe it happened to him. He swore that was the runway. Difference here in that situation he was a student pilot.My own technique is to always have the ILS tuned up for the runway iam landing on , if there is one for that particular runway of course even when on a visual approach. and watch for sunglare too.

henry k

here's a CCTV recording of the incident:

 

Better/sharper image. Nearby Irvine was my place of residence for over 14 years up until 2010. I could not start to count the number of times I flew to and from KSNA on business. I also frequented the excellent Lyon Air Museum countless times. It is just off of the apron at the right edge of this photo.  

 

I cannot fathom mistaking the taxiway (indicated by the red arrow).  It does not look like a runway and has zero runway markings. The taxiway also adjoins other paved surface, clearly removing any runway appearance.  It is also significantly closer to the terminal tarmac, terminal, and aircraft at the gates.

 

Sorry. Know he is a popular celebrity.  This was a bad one.... 

 

 

You are showing the approach to 20L (now 19L I suppose), while the actual approach as mentioned in the ATC recording was 01L (opposite side). The American in the ATC recording also refers to intersection Bravo/Delta, which is located on the opposite side of the runway as well.

So, from observing that CCTV footage, he doesn't actually pass directly over the 737, although the shadow of his aeroplane certainly does, so he was undeniably quite close to it. Having said that, it looks to me like he's at least 40-50 feet above the tip height of the Boeing's tail, so if the 737 hadn't halted its taxy, he'd still have missed it by I reckon at least 40 feet. Not that any of that alters the fact that he was a dipstick for landing on a taxiway at an airport he's supposedly familiar with.

 

I'm willing to bet that if he was just Joe Blow rather than Harrison Ford, the FAA's appraisal would have gone something like this within a matter of hours: 'So, this 74 year-old guy nearly hit a 737 by landing on a taxiway? Yup, pull his ticket.'

Not a problem - if he'd have hit the 737 he would have just bounced up and away with those big tundra tyres, thus forcing a go-around after which he could have landed on the actual runway!  :Shame On You:     

Thanks for the video.

Solved, it wasn't that close after all.

It's ok, IJ, just keep doing ...your thing ...whatever you do.

 

 

 

You are showing the approach to 20L (now 19L I suppose), while the actual approach as mentioned in the ATC recording was 01L (opposite side). The American in the ATC recording also refers to intersection Bravo/Delta, which is located on the opposite side of the runway as well.

Pretty sure that ATC recording had nothing to do with this incident since the runway used to be 1L/19R and got changed to 2L/20R, not the other way around. Also, the video posted right before your post shows this taking place from the end of 20L/R rather than 2L/R.

Oh let's not split hairs now Kevin ...he's obviously ...wrongfully accused.

 

 

 

 

 

Wrongfully Accused is a 1998 comedy film starring Leslie Nielsen as a man who has been framed for murder and desperately attempts to expose the true culprits. The film was written, produced, and directed by Pat Proft and is a parody of the 1993 film The Fugitive, starring Harrison Ford. :rolleyes:

Thanks wiki.

An update for anyone interested - http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-harrison-ford-landing-20170324-story.html

Appears he was concerned about turbulence from a nearby airliner...

ATC did warn him about the Airbus turbulence. Wouldn't it have been extremely easy for him to maintain separation to totally avoid the turbulence given the huge difference in landing speeds? Mind you, who or what was in the queue behind him? They might not have wanted him to stooge around as slow as he could go on approach.

Quote

Aviation safety experts have said that mistakenly landing on a taxiway is almost unheard of,

Taken from the same article which Jim linked to. I wouldn't go as far as saying almost unheard of, even airliners have landed on taxiways, but I can't find any recorded statistics of the actual numbers. However, given the huge number of commercial flights taking place around the world on a daily basis, I guess it is very rare.

In his defence, if he was genuinely concerned about wake turbulence and thought that was a possible danger to his aircraft, he ideally should go around, but since the regulations in relation to following what ATC say, are as follows below, then providing he can prove he was not gonna hit that 737 (and since he didn't in the event collide with it, that should be easy), he can quote the following:

"The pilot-in-command of an aircraft is directly responsible for, and is the final authority as to the safe operation of that aircraft. In an emergency requiring immediate action, the pilot-in-command may deviate from any rule in the General Subpart A and Flight Rules Subpart B in accordance with 14 CFR Section 91.3"

Since it's quite conceivable that wake turbulence from an Airbus could flip something as small and light as an Aviat Husky, and it is (just about) conceivable that he might suppose landing below and to the side of any such wake turbulence may be safer than flying through it on a go around, I'd put money on this being his defence, and I'm willing to bet he can afford a better lawyer than the FAA, so that will probably work.

He did mention the Airbus at the time of the incident, and so did ATC, so it evidently was at least of some relevance as a concern to both him and indeed ATC and isn't just some fast talking excuse he's come up with afterwards.

Must admit, I was disappointed upon listening to his FSDO call to the tower, that he didn't finish the call by saying 'boring conversation anyway' and shooting the phone with his blaster. That's what Han would have done.

The FAA shot first....

18 hours ago, HighBypass said:

Taken from the same article which Jim linked to. I wouldn't go as far as saying almost unheard of, even airliners have landed on taxiways, but I can't find any recorded statistics of the actual numbers. However, given the huge number of commercial flights taking place around the world on a daily basis, I guess it is very rare.

Going from memory this one is the last one I recall in Seattle with Alaska Airlines:

http://avherald.com/h?article=4918ebe1

Mr Ford has also had other notable flying incidents.......