Boeing 737-3H4 N350SW

Summary

On 30 January 2005 at about 19:35 local time, a Boeing 737-3H4 registered N350SW was involved in an incident near Seattle, Washington, United States. 46 people were on board and nobody was injured. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

30 January 2005 at 19:35

Classification

Incident

Location

Seattle, Washington, United States

Nearest airport

Seattle-Tacoma Int. (KSEA)

Coordinates

47.4489, -122.3094

Aircraft

Boeing 737-3H4

Registration

N350SW

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 121: Air Carrier

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Albuquerque → Seattle

Aircraft damage

Not recorded

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

SEA05IA040

Nobody was injured.

The flight crew's failure to maintain an adequate visual lookout while on final for a visual approach. Factors include the failure of both airport operations personnel and the local FAA Airports Inspector to insure that some form of identification marking was placed directly on the taxiway surface after the first seven misalignment events.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The First Officer, who was the flying flight crew member during the approach, inadvertently aligned the aircraft with the paved surface of the parallel taxiway as he rolled out on final for a visual approach. He then continued the approach until he noticed the large yellow "X" just off the north end of the taxiway. At that point he realized that the surface that he intended to land on was not an operational runway, so he decided to initiate a go-around. After completing a successful go-around, the flight crew received vectors to a second visual approach final, whereupon they completed an uneventful full-stop landing. Although the FAA Control Tower had the Runway End Identifier Lights (REIL's) for both parallel runways on, the flight crew did not see them during this approach. When they came around for the second approach, the tower had turned on the sequencing approach flashers (rabbit), and it was at that time that they first saw the REIL's for either runway. Both flight crew members said that although the paved surfaces where wet and a little shiny (from an earlier shower), they felt it was the shape, size, and color of the taxiway surface that most directly contributed to the misidentification of the taxiway as a runway. This incident was the eighth in a series of known events wherein flight crews inadvertently aligned their aircraft with the subject taxiway with the intent to land on its surface. During three of these events the aircrews completed their landings on the taxiway surface. Although the airport operations personnel and the local FAA Airports Inspector are aware of this series of events, no markings or visual cues have been placed directly on the taxiway surface to assist crews in more easily identifying Taxiway Tango as a taxiway and not a runway.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.