Lighting, pilot error factors in Newark gaffe

updated 7:20 p.m. ET April 1, 2008

NEWARK, N.J. - Pilot error and airport night lighting conditions were both involved when a Continental Airlines plane landed on a taxiway instead of a runway at Newark Liberty International Airport in October 2006, according to a report issued Tuesday.

None of the 154 people on Flight 1883 from Orlando, Fla., was injured when the plane landed on Taxiway Zulu instead of adjacent Runway 29.

The airliner, weighing more than 200,000 pounds, had a wingspan of about 125 feet. Taxiway Zulu is about 75 feet wide, about half as wide as the adjacent Runway 29, and is less than 150 yards from an administration building.

The National Transportation Safety Board's report concluded that "the flight crew's misidentification of the parallel taxiway as the active runway" led to the mistake, but said night lighting conditions were a contributing factor.

It said the lights on the taxiway and runway were inspected within minutes and found to be working normally. And six other aircraft made the same approach within 10 minutes and each landed successfully on the runway, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs the airport.

The NTSB report noted that from the sky the taxiway lights appeared slightly brighter than the runway lights, but it said their distinct colors — white lights on the center and sides of the runway versus green lights on the taxiway centerline — could be clearly differentiated.

Both pilots — who had a total of more than 30,000 hours of flight time between them — underwent retraining and returned to duty, Continental spokesman Dave Messing said.

Also, the Port Authority increased the intensity of the runway lights and decreased the taxiway lights. Those settings remain in effect, according to Port Authority spokesman Marc LaVorgna.

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