PILOT SPIN
Pilot Zone => Pilot Zone => Topic started by: Rush on May 31, 2025, 05:05:07 AM
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https://edition.cnn.com/2025/03/21/travel/air-traffic-control-stops-pilots-taxiway
Air traffic controller in Orlando stops Southwest Airlines pilots mistakenly trying to take off on a taxiway
The pilots of a Boeing 737 started to mistakenly take off from a taxiway at a Florida airport on Thursday before an air traffic controller told them to stop, the Federal Aviation Administration said, announcing it was investigating the incident.
Taxiways are used by planes to travel between gates and runways, but are not intended for take offs or landings.
Southwest Airlines Flight 3278 was cleared to take off on a runway at Orlando International Airport, bound for Albany, New York, the FAA said in a statement. The plane, however, started to accelerate on a parallel taxiway instead, prompting an air traffic controller to cancel the takeoff clearance.
“3278 stop, 3278 stop. Stop Southwest 3278, stop!” air traffic control said from the tower, according to audio from Broadcastify. “Cancel takeoff clearance. You’re on H taxiway Southwest 3278.”
Pilots then slammed the brakes to stop. “Southwest 3278, yes, sir. We stopped,” the pilot replied.
“The crew mistook the surface for the nearby runway,” the airline said in a statement. “Southwest is engaged with the NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) and FAA to understand the circumstances of the event.”
The aircraft’s top speed was 70 knots at the time, or approximately 80 mph, according to flight data tracker FlightRadar24. Airplanes typically travel about 35 mph on taxiways. A Boeing 737 would need to accelerate to about 150 mph for takeoff.
The plane was meant to be on Runway 17R but was on taxiway H – which runs the same length and parallel to it.
The 737 stopped safely and no other aircraft were involved, Southwest said. The airline later flew the passengers to Albany on a different plane.
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Somone's got some splaining to do. You's think the lack of big number as they turned onto what they thought was the runway would have been a clue.
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Somone's got some splaining to do. You's think the lack of big number as they turned onto what they thought was the runway would have been a clue.
Do they even look out the windshield or are they glued to digital screens like everybody else these days?
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Airline crews are supposed to verify the correct runway between each pilot, the runway number sign, and the markings on the runway. Been retired awhile but pretty sure that was the procedure, at least for the airline I flew for.
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Shoot. Even I have "safe taxi" on my Garmin displays in the 170. I would think that the big iron has something similar?
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Drug testing, no doubt. sop.
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The worst outcome of this sort of thing was Comair 5191. Sheesh, I’d rather die than be that lone survivor copilot.
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Shoot. Even I have "safe taxi" on my Garmin displays in the 170. I would think that the big iron has something similar?
No they don’t unless their EFB’s are configured with it.
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Plus the markings on taxiways and runways are different colors. We also had both pilots verify where we were at for taxi and before takeoff thrust was applied. I think their brains were in neutral.