• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Harrison Ford accidentally pilots over plane with 110 passengers, FAA to investigate

Status
Not open for further replies.
C

Conciliator

Banned
at first I thought this was "Harrison Ford accidentally pilots a plane with over 110 passengers." And I wanted to know what that story was
 
O

Occam

Member
Fried Food said:
That's not how this works. Skills can deteriorate over time with mental degradation. You don't have a right to fly.
Click to expand...

Yep, there are certain safety measures in place to prevent mentally unfit people from piloting planes. This isn't like being president of the United States.
 
Captain Zyrain

Captain Zyrain

Member
MCN said:
Think of it this way - air accidents are so rare that each one gets a Wikipedia page. There isn't enough storage in the world to contain a wiki page for every road accident.
Click to expand...

Oh it's an irrational hate for sure. Every odd bump or rough turbulence is unnerving though. Especially with stories like those.. Where some little plane takes down an airliner due to error.

But glad that didn't happen here! Bad Ford, Bad!
 
D

DrForester

Kills Photobucket
I've flown planes, how the hell do you land on a taxiway? There's big giant white numbers on the runways, you can't miss them.
 
DiscoJer

DiscoJer

Member
DrForester said:
As someone who has flown planes, how the hell do you land on a taxiway? There's big giant white numbers on the runways, you can't miss them.
Click to expand...

Sadly, I think that's kind of the gist of this thread. He's perhaps not mentally capable of flying anymore.
 
M

MJPIA

Member
Not gonna defend any mistakes he may or may not have made but that airport is considered one of the scariest airports in the country and is designed poorly.
Like IIRC in the 90s I think there were talks of redesigning the airport because of its confusing layout and planes frequently crossing the main runway.

Discussion on reddit by some pilots sum up better than I could though.

I'm guessing the 737 was taxiing, so it all just came together.
But the runway is really poorly marked. No threshold lines. No aiming point. No touchdown zone. And the white lines on the edges blend into the faded cement. Add a little sun and the white may be invisible.
ETA: there was certainly sun, he's landing facing west with the sun reflecting from low in the sky over the pacific ocean at about 4:45pm local.
Click to expand...
Given its midday and the white identification letters are painted on concrete they'd be near impossible to see and with how poorly marked it is there isn't much to distinguish the taxiway from the runway.
He's likely not the first to land on that taxiway.

U2rk3ZI.png
Click to expand...
This is the incident btw.
 
TransTrender

TransTrender

Gold Member
Funny because I remember they put big lighted X signs at both ends of the taxi way in order to prevent something like this happening again since it happened like a decade ago.
 
T

TheSeks

Blinded by the luminous glory that is David Bowie's physical manifestation.
Man, that thread title made me think he pulled an "Airplane!" it's crazy, but not as crazy as like hijacking a 747 to pilot.
 
MrCunningham

MrCunningham

Member
*Harrison Ford movie joke here*

But really, he should have gave more time yo the navigation computer to create a flight path. Does he think he's dustin' crops?
 
F

Freeza Under The Shower

Member
MJPIA said:
Not gonna defend any mistakes he may or may not have made but that airport is considered one of the scariest airports in the country and is designed poorly.
Like IIRC in the 90s I think there were talks of redesigning the airport because of its confusing layout and planes frequently crossing the main runway.

Discussion on reddit by some pilots sum up better than I could though.


Given its midday and the white identification letters are painted on concrete they'd be near impossible to see and with how poorly marked it is there isn't much to distinguish the taxiway from the runway.
He's likely not the first to land on that taxiway.


This is the incident btw.
Click to expand...

huh.

Sucks to lose a license over poor design. I have to wonder why small planes and airliners even mingle on a singular airport in the US, since afaik they don't in Europe.
(or at least I've never seen such a combo, only small or big, but never combined)
 
K

Kenstar

Member
MrCunningham said:
*Harrison Ford movie joke here*

But really, he should have gave more time yo the navigation computer to create a flight path. Does he think he's dustin' crops?
Click to expand...

His consumer grade flight computer doesn't line him up for final approach, it's like expecting a gps to tell you where to park
 
S

Sir Abacus

Member
SNA is a really fun airport to take off from when you're taking off from 20R. The pilots have to do a shortfield procedure, basically have to do the plane equivalent of a drag race, to take off and climb before reaching the noise sensitive area. Spool up to full throttle release the brake. Drag race to the end of the runway, pull up, and hope like hell someone doesn't call the county.
 
M

MJPIA

Member
Freeza Under The Shower said:
huh.

Sucks to lose a license over poor design. I have to wonder why small planes and airliners even mingle on a singular airport in the US, since afaik they don't in Europe.
(or at least I've never seen such a combo, only small or big, but never combined)
Click to expand...
Investagators will take all factors into this incident into account for any punishment or lack thereof so they might but there's no guarantee he'll have any major punishment levied against him.
Landing on a taxiway isn't illegal as long as you don't run afoul of 91.13 and as far as he knew he was following ATC instructions, the main thing is he flew over a airliner holding under the runway he was supposed to land on which is the issue but we don't know how much space there was between the plane on the ground and him landing or if the jet was actually directly below him until video or pictures surface so all we have at this point are a bunch of news articles that are implying he landed on a taxiway which had another plane on it.


John Wayne airport has an incredibly short main runway for a commercial airport so space is likely why, there's no room to expand or build a new public use airport and even if there were there'd be legal battles and fighting for decades as no one wants an new airport built near their home.
 
S

seanoff

Member
Plenty of commercial pilots have landed on or taken off from taxiways. There are cases where commercial jets have landed at completely the wrong airport. Its not that rare and is done occasionally by pilots flying RPT flights.

He'll get a warning, a bit of a chat.

Here is the approach at night

https://youtu.be/4zllEOj2ItE
 
J

jelly

Member
I expected worse honestly. The act itself is very dangerous though but considering some posts in here about the view and markings, who knows what the FAA will do.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Frustrated Lufthansa pilot draws penis in the sky after flight was forced to divert
15
1K
Nitty_Grimes replied
Boeing 777s are BANNED from flying over Britain: Grant Shapps says ALL planes with same engine as one that caught fire over Denver cannot enter UK air
46
3K
M1chl replied
Air Canada pilot nearly lands on SFO International taxiway, mistook it as runway
2 3
116
20K
MJPIA replied
Air Canada Pilot Mistakes Taxiway for Runway; Buzzes United Plane at SFO
6
6K
mackaveli replied
NTSB: FAA's lax oversight contributed to deadliest balloon accident in US history
0
915
FrankCanada97 replied
Top Bottom