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Falcon field tower controller reported that an aircraft landed on a taxiway instead of the runway.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1626920 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201903 |
| Local Time Of Day | 1801-2400 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | FFZ.Airport |
| State Reference | AZ |
| Environment | |
| Flight Conditions | VMC |
| Light | Night |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | Small Aircraft |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 91 |
| Flight Phase | Landing |
| Route In Use | None |
| Flight Plan | VFR |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Local |
| Qualification | Air Traffic Control Fully Certified |
| Experience | Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 2 |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Procedural FAR Ground Incursion Taxiway |
Narrative:
Aircraft X taxied out for one touch and go and then a full stop. He departed on runway 4R; did his touch and go on runway 4R and then was cleared to land on runway 4R. The pilot read the runway back correctly; but when he landed; he did so on the parallel taxiway; taxiway D. He touched down at the edge of the run-up area where two aircraft were at the time. On final; it is impossible to tell if an aircraft is correctly lined up; especially at night. So I did not notice he was on taxiway D until he touched down.there was no one on taxiway D beyond him so I did not send the aircraft around as it would have been more dangerous than just letting him land. I then deviated the pilot before allowing him to taxi to park. One of the aircraft in the run-up area reported [an aircraft] landing on the taxiway just as he passed in front of him. The workload was moderate at the time; so I was working 4 additional aircraft in the pattern at the time and one on the GPS-B approach; so I was unable to give all of my attention to the one plane.I feel like this incident is just a one off; and ultimately boils down to pilot error. There is nothing we can do based on tower position to the runway to be able to verify better that they are lined up properly and if there is more than one aircraft in the pattern at any given time; no one can give 100% on just one aircraft to watch him the whole way. A scan must be maintained; so I am unsure of any other ways to prevent this.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: Falcon Field Tower Controller reported that an aircraft landed on a taxiway instead of the runway.
Narrative: Aircraft X taxied out for one touch and go and then a full stop. He departed on Runway 4R; did his touch and go on Runway 4R and then was cleared to land on Runway 4R. The pilot read the runway back correctly; but when he landed; he did so on the parallel taxiway; Taxiway D. He touched down at the edge of the run-up area where two aircraft were at the time. On final; it is impossible to tell if an aircraft is correctly lined up; especially at night. So I did not notice he was on Taxiway D until he touched down.There was no one on Taxiway D beyond him so I did not send the aircraft around as it would have been more dangerous than just letting him land. I then deviated the pilot before allowing him to taxi to park. One of the aircraft in the run-up area reported [an aircraft] landing on the taxiway just as he passed in front of him. The workload was moderate at the time; so I was working 4 additional aircraft in the pattern at the time and one on the GPS-B approach; so I was unable to give all of my attention to the one plane.I feel like this incident is just a one off; and ultimately boils down to pilot error. There is nothing we can do based on tower position to the runway to be able to verify better that they are lined up properly and if there is more than one aircraft in the pattern at any given time; no one can give 100% on just one aircraft to watch him the whole way. A scan must be maintained; so I am unsure of any other ways to prevent this.
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.