Narrative:

Aircraft X was being vectored for a visual approach. I had to vector the aircraft across the final approach course for the sequence through the intersection. It took several calls for aircraft X to report the field in sight; and the aircraft was cleared for the visual approach on approximately a 6 mile final. The flight path appeared normal. The asde (airport surface detection equipment) alert went off in the radar room calling for a go-around. At that point; it was clear that aircraft X was lined up for the parallel taxiway east; west of the runway. The aircraft responded to the go around and eventually landed.there is a PAPI (precision approach path indicator) lighting system for runway 35 at phl which was notamed out of service for many years. The papis were originally turned off because of concerns over tall ship traffic interfering with the descent. Current procedures require aircraft landing runway 35 during the day to advise the ship in sight. At night; arrivals to that runway are stopped when tall ships are a factor. The papis should be recommissioned. They are another source for pilots to help visually acquire and process the landing environment. Given the identical incidents at phl recently; this is an easy and quick solution to enhance safety. [A few months ago]; there was a safety panel meeting at phl where several chief pilots agreed that the tangible benefits of returning the papis to service far outweighed any imagined risk of an aircraft following a PAPI glide path into a large ship which they are required to have in sight.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: PHL TRACON Controller reported an aircraft on a visual approach was aligned to land on a parallel taxiway.

Narrative: Aircraft X was being vectored for a Visual Approach. I had to vector the aircraft across the final approach course for the sequence through the intersection. It took several calls for Aircraft X to report the field in sight; and the aircraft was cleared for the Visual Approach on approximately a 6 mile final. The flight path appeared normal. The ASDE (Airport Surface Detection Equipment) alert went off in the radar room calling for a go-around. At that point; it was clear that Aircraft X was lined up for the parallel Taxiway E; west of the runway. The aircraft responded to the go around and eventually landed.There is a PAPI (Precision Approach Path Indicator) lighting system for Runway 35 at PHL which was NOTAMed out of service for many years. The PAPIs were originally turned off because of concerns over tall ship traffic interfering with the descent. Current procedures require aircraft landing runway 35 during the day to advise the ship in sight. At night; arrivals to that runway are stopped when tall ships are a factor. The PAPIs should be recommissioned. They are another source for pilots to help visually acquire and process the landing environment. Given the identical incidents at PHL recently; this is an easy and quick solution to enhance safety. [A few months ago]; there was a safety panel meeting at PHL where several chief pilots agreed that the tangible benefits of returning the PAPIs to service far outweighed any imagined risk of an aircraft following a PAPI glide path into a large ship which they are required to have in sight.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.