De Havilland DHC-8 C-GTAQ

Summary

On 19 January 2004 at about 19:38 local time, a De Havilland DHC-8 registered C-GTAQ, operated by Air Canada Jazz, was involved in an incident near Seattle, Washington, United States. 35 people were on board and nobody was injured. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

19 January 2004 at 19:38

Classification

Incident

Location

Seattle, Washington, United States

Nearest airport

Seattle-Tacoma Int. (KSEA)

Coordinates

47.4483, -122.3100

Aircraft

De Havilland DHC-8

Registration

C-GTAQ

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

Air Canada Jazz

Operating rule

Non-U.S., Commercial

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Vancouver, BC → Seattle

Aircraft damage

Not recorded

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

SEA04IA035

Nobody was injured.

The flight crew's misidentification of the parallel taxiway as the active runway, resulting in the flight crew executing a landing on the taxiway. Factors include sun glare and shadows around the runway/taxiway environment, and visual illusions created by the airport surface environment.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The flight crew was cleared by Seattle Center for a visual approach to Runway 16 Right. They contacted Seattle-Tacoma Tower when they were near Elliot Bay, and were cleared to land on Runway 16 Right, number two behind a 737 that was then touching down. Because of the distance between their position and the preceding 737, neither flight crew member saw the aircraft they were sequenced behind. The Captain, who was flying at the time, therefore aligned the aircraft with what he felt sure was Runway 16 Right. He then continued on the approach, and completed what to him seemed to be an uneventful landing. Soon after the aircraft touched down, the tower advised the flight crew that they had landed on Taxiway Tango. The Captain said that when they lined up on final approach, there was an overcast over the approach end of the runway (which was dry), bright sunshine to the south of the airport, and a glare on the runway surface. According to him, this caused the area around the approach end of the runway to appear as one dark color (shadow), making it hard to differentiate between Runway 16 Right and Taxiway Tango. He further stated that he had been into Seattle-Tacoma Airport many times before, and was aware of the large "X" just off the north end of Taxiway Tango. But, according to the Captain, because of the contrast between the runway glare and the dark area around the approach end, he did not notice that he had flown over the "X" just prior to touching down on the taxiway.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.