Delta flight lands on taxiway instead of runway

By Rhonda Cook

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are  investigating the circumstances that caused a Delta Air Lines flight from Rio de Janeiro to end on a taxiway instead of the prescribed runway at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

The pilot and co-pilot have been "relieved of active flying pending the completion of the investigations," said Delta spokesman Anthony Black, "and we're cooperating with the investigations."

FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said Tuesday the pilot of Delta 60 had declared a medical emergency just before landing in Atlanta shortly after 6 a.m. Monday but even so should not have landed on the taxiway.

Bergen and Black said they did not know the nature of the emergency that came at the end of a 10-hour flight.

The Boeing 767 touched down  on  "taxiway M right" running parallel and north of 12,000-foot runway 27.

None of the 183 passengers or 12 crew members was injured and there were no other aircraft on the taxiway, Bergen said.

“The aircraft landed safely,” she said. “The FAA is investigating and looking at all aspects of the event… Our goal is to find out what happened and to ensure it doesn’t happen again.”

She said it was “very, very rare” for a plane to land on a taxiway rather than the runway. “None of us here, anecdotally, can remember this happening,” she said.