Phl tower controller reported an aircraft conducting a visual approach to a runway which the PAPI's ...

Narrative:

I was working local control. It was dark. We had a higher volume of arrivals and departures for that time frame; because of departure route delays; and some diversions. Aircraft X called on the visual approach. They'd been flying an angled approach; as though they'd been cleared direct. I kept watching them because they never really lined up with the runway until about 1/4-1/2 mile final which is late; and I expected the asde to alert for them being lined up for a taxiway. However; they finally turned and appeared to be lined up with the runway. The bars never came up though; and when they did appear on the asde; the target was over a taxiway so I told them to go around. We already have the lights up a step at night and the asde-X has alerting functions. I'm not sure if it captured the aircraft this time though because they were so high. If that's the reason; it might be good to brief the controllers of the lack of alerting in this situation. The reason for this report is because it didn't alert. The PAPI has been notamed out for a good portion of the last 4-5 years. I think that; along with even a short approach light system; would be a great help identifying this runway at night. This is far from the first incident we've had of this type.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: PHL Tower Controller reported an aircraft conducting a Visual Approach to a runway which the PAPI's have been inoperative for more than four years was lined up with the parallel taxiway; but the ASDE-X never alerted.

Narrative: I was working Local Control. It was dark. We had a higher volume of arrivals and departures for that time frame; because of departure route delays; and some diversions. Aircraft X called on the Visual Approach. They'd been flying an angled approach; as though they'd been cleared direct. I kept watching them because they never really lined up with the runway until about 1/4-1/2 mile final which is late; and I expected the ASDE to alert for them being lined up for a taxiway. However; they finally turned and appeared to be lined up with the runway. The bars never came up though; and when they did appear on the ASDE; the target was over a taxiway so I told them to go around. We already have the lights up a step at night and the ASDE-X has alerting functions. I'm not sure if it captured the aircraft this time though because they were so high. If that's the reason; it might be good to brief the controllers of the lack of alerting in this situation. The reason for this report is because it didn't alert. The PAPI has been NOTAMed out for a good portion of the last 4-5 years. I think that; along with even a short approach light system; would be a great help identifying this runway at night. This is far from the first incident we've had of this type.

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.

Attributes
ACN	1656199
Time
Date	201906
Local Time Of Day	0001-0600
Place
Locale Reference	PHL.Tower
State Reference	PA
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Small Transport Low Wing 2 Turboprop Eng
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Final Approach
Route In Use	Visual Approach
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Local
Qualification	Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Experience	Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 10.0
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Track / Heading All Types

Phl tower controller reported an aircraft conducting a visual approach to a runway which the PAPI's have been inoperative for more than four years was lined up with the parallel taxiway; but the asde-X never alerted.