A taxiway will do… KLM 737 takes-off from Taxiway B in Amsterdam
On 16-02-2010, in Life around runways, by steve
PH-BDP in Warsaw
I do have a trip scheduled to Warsaw… what I pity I was not on KL1369 two days ago! As I said in another article, I am one of the few air travelers who does check the life west (under your seat you know), follows the safety briefing and confirms the nearest exit (may be behind you). I also follow the taxi operation, trying to figure out which runway we would be using…
What a wonderful discovery it would have been to see the 737 line up on a taxiway and take off from there without further ado!
That is exactly what PH-BDP did two days ago around half past eight in the evening in what appears to have been darkness but otherwise good visibility.
The taxiway in question runs parallel to runway 36C, the runway PH-BDP was supposed to use. It does have the usual taxiway lighting (blue edge lights) which are not easy to confuse with the runway edge lights which are white…
What was the crew thinking? A Delta 767 did land on a taxiway in Atlanta not so long ago and a Northwest Airbus overshot Minneapolis without noticing, now KLM takes off from a taxiway… We have come full circle.
What next?
[...] Delta lands on a taxiway in Atlanta, KLM takes off from one in Amsterdam and now Aeroflot does the same in Oslo. These are not spurious incidents. Obviously there is [...]