lauren%rand-unix@sri-unix.UUCP (11/11/83)
Following are two wire service stories regarding the recent Continental
landing on a Denver taxiway instead of the appropriate runway.
Another Continental incident apparently occurred this evening at
(nearby) LAX -- a Jumbo was unable to retract landing gear, dumped
fuel, and returned.
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a048 0343 10 Nov 83
PM-Landing Mistake, Bjt,630
Jet With Airline President Aboard Lands in Wrong Place
Laserphoto DX1
By JENNIFER PARMELEE
Associated Press Writer
DENVER (AP) - Two Continental Airlines pilots working during a
strike were reported ''very, very embarrassed'' about mistakenly
landing their jet - carrying the airline's president and its chief
spokesman - on a taxiway instead of a runway.
An official of the Federal Aviation Administration called
Wednesday's errant landing ''a matter of concern'' and said the agency
would investigate.
No injuries resulted when the DC-9, carrying Continental President
Frank Lorenzo and 74 other passengers from Houston to Denver, set down
on a deserted, 75-foot-wide taxiway that lies between and parallel to
two 150-foot-wide runways.
But the Airline Pilots Association, which struck Continental on
Sept. 27 after the financially troubled airline reorganized, cut
salaries and imposed new work rules, said the incident demonstrated
''a degradation of safety'' because of pressure on pilots.
A taxiway landing can be dangerous because ''very often there can be
an aircraft on the taxiway that would be virtually invisible to the
landing aircraft,'' said John Houser, a union spokesman.
''It's very conceivable that you wouldn't see the guy until you were
down and starting to stop.''
Continental's chief spokesman, Bruce Hicks, who was on the plane,
said, ''It was a beautiful, bright sunny day and the glare off the
snow washed everything out'' when the plane approached the airport at
9:30 a.m.
The pilot ''saw three strips of black concrete and he landed on the
middle one,'' said Hicks. He said the jet rolled gently to a stop,
with other passengers unaware of the mistake until later.
Hicks would not identify the pilot and co-captain, describing them
as ''very, very embarrassed about it.''
However, he said both were experienced and had flown into Denver
many times. The captain has flown commercially for 13 years and the
first officer has more than 7,000 flight hours, both mostly with Texas
International, he said.
''I suspect they're (the FAA) going to find that the glare from snow
in the approach to the airport was at that moment in time very, very
difficult,'' said Lorenzo, who was in Denver for meetings.
The FAA's public affairs officer in Seattle, Judy Nauman, said that
the incident ''is a matter of concern. The office in Denver is
awaiting an interview with the flight crew and we'll do an
investigation.''
Bob Westoff, head of the FAA's air carrier district office in
Denver, said the agency considers a taxiway landing ''a serious
incident.''
An investigation could result in no action, a reprimand or a change
in Continental's certification, FAA officials said.
The same mistake had been made at the airport a year ago by a
commercial jetliner and more recently by a twin-engine private plane,
Hicks said.
But airport spokesman Dave Scherer said, ''It doesn't happen often
at all. In the last 15 or 20 years, we've had maybe three incidents
with (small private aircraft), but never in our knowledge has it
happened with a commercial aircraft.''
The pilots association struck the airline after Continental filed
for protection from creditors under federal bankruptcy law, dropped
some routes, laid off more than half its pilots and flight attendants
and cut salaries in half.
New work rules allow for pilots to fly 16 straight hours, instead of
the previous 14. The airline is now flying with about 400 pilots,
compared with about 1,400 before the strike.
The head of the pilots association, Henry Duffy, issued a statement
saying: ''We have maintained from the beginning that the work rules
imposed upon these pilots ... and the immense pressure they are under
would unquestionably cause a serious and rapid degradation of safety.
This isolated incident at Denver is only a further example of why we
have been warning passengers not to fly the new Continental.''
ap-ny-11-10 0641EST
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n012 0715 10 Nov 83
PM-CONTINENTAL Undated
By RICHARD WITKIN
c.1983 N.Y. Times News Service
A Continental Airlines DC-9 jet, with Frank Lorenzo, the line's
chairman, among the passengers, landed by mistake on a taxiway
between two runways at Denver's Stapleton Airport Wednesday.
The incident, in which no damage was done and no one was hurt, was a
special embarrassment for Continental not only because its chairman
was on board but also because the carrier is in a battle with
striking pilots in which safety is a key issue.
The twin-jet plane, carrying 57 passengers and a crew of five, was
on a flight from Houston and had been told by controllers to land on
the right runway of two parallel strips headed 260 degrees to the
west.
The runways are about 900 feet apart. Between them is a taxiway that
is about as long as the runways but is only 75 feet wide, half the
width of each of the runways. Three inches of snow had fallen on
Tuesday but the runways and taxiways had been plowed and the sky was
clear blue when the Continental plane came in to land.
The plane had no trouble staying on the taxiway as it touched down
gently and rolled to a stop. Bruce Hicks, an airline spokesman who
was also on board, said the passengers did not know at the time that
anything out of the ordinary had happened.
The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the incident.
Hicks said that the pilots, whose names he declined to give, would be
back on duty ''within a couple of days,''
The Air Line Pilots Association, which called a strike against the
airline Sept. 27, contended that the incident supported its concerns
for maintenance of safety under strike conditions.
The head of the union, Capt. Henry Duffy, issued a statement saying;
''We have maintained from the beginning that the work rules imposed
upon those pilots still flying for the new Continental and the
immense pressure they are operating under would unquestionably cause
a serious and rapid degradation of safety. This isolated incident at
Denver is only a further example of why we have been warning
passengers not to fly on the new Continental.''
The airline said its work rules were well within federal regulations
and no more onerous on pilots than those of some other carriers.
The carrier is flying about 39 percent of its former total passenger
miles with just over 400 pilots now, as against 1,400 before the job
action. The pay of captains has been cut from an average of $83,000 a
year to $43,000 for all captains.
Under new work rules imposed by Continental, pilots may put in 16
straight hours of duty time instead of the previous 14.
Aviation unions in Australia and New Zealand were planning to halt
Continental's profitable daily flight to the South Pacific starting
Thursday by refusing to fuel or maintain its planes.
nyt-11-10-83 1012est
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