Cleared for takeoff, taxiway alfa.

tehmightypirate

tehmightypirate

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TehMightyPirate
Did some night currency practice with my father last night and he told me that one time a ways back the tower had closed the only runway for brief unscheduled maintenance, and rather than have him wait they cleared him to takeoff on the parallel taxiway! Anyone else ever done this?
 
At the Cable air show the air boss had me land on the north taxiway to better manage other air show traffic.
At Santa Maria, California (KSMX) ATC has had me land on taxiway Alpha and taxiway Hotel to manage traffic.
 
Used to do it at Brown field in Sandy Eggo for the fly-in. IIRC, usually preceded by 'at pilots discretion take of taxiway Alpha to the west.' Or something like that, it's been a while.
 
Landed in Greenville TX KGVT on the main taxiway.
They were working on the Main runway and the tower told us to use the taxiway.
 
Sitting in the bench seat in the front of a C-130 I heard the Flight Engineer tell the pilot that the temps were too high for his wizz wheel to calculate the needed runway length. The pilot came back with "don't worry we're not using the runway." The taxiway at Bagdad International Airport had fewer holes than the runway and I think he reversed the props before we actually touched down because we really put a strain on the seat belts when he stopped the plane.
 
tehmightypirate said:
Did some night currency practice with my father last night and he told me that one time a ways back the tower had closed the only runway for brief unscheduled maintenance, and rather than have him wait they cleared him to takeoff on the parallel taxiway! Anyone else ever done this?
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Never on purpose. :yikes: I might need to try that, I think they maintain our taxiways better than the runway.
 
Apparently during the flood of 1993 when the levee protecting chesterfield valley and spirit of st. Louis airport (KSUS) broke, people were trying to get out before the water reached the airport and were using the taxiways for takeoff. Supposedly the tower kept trying to tell people they couldn't do that, but everyone ignored them.
 
Taxiway Bravo at KPTK has been used as a runway when construction projects have closed 27L. Tower puts out a notam when that is going to happen.
 
Interesting stories, so I guess this is more common than I thought.
 
tehmightypirate said:
Interesting stories, so I guess this is more common than I thought.
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It happens, but nowadays it wouldn't be done in the spare of the moment in today's safety based culture. Taxiways tend to be narrower, may have peaks and dips, and may not be appropriately reinfoced to handle the weight of larger aircraft landing. Not to mention they're marked and lighted as taxiways.

I've never landed on a taxiway, but I have used a taxiway to land. I once arrived late at night to an airport with malfunctioning runway lights. In other words, the taxilights were on, but the runway lights were dark (tripped breaker I later learned). No problem: use the blue taxilights to line-up, then sidestep over to the runway using the landing light to finish the job.
 
Yes. At towered airports you can get just about any runway you want....but you will hear an "at your own risk" caveat.

Bob Gardner
 
That's right up there with "Airport Closed...depart at your own risk."
The airport management can close the airport, but ATC isn't tasked with enforcing that.
 
Sure, have landed and taken off plenty of times off taxiways and even the ramp. Not a big deal when you stop before you land. :)
 
RotorDude said:
Sure, have landed and taken off plenty of times off taxiways and even the ramp. Not a big deal when you stop before you land. :)
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That's actually why my dad mentioned it, we were doing a parallel departure with an air guard helicopter from the taxiway.
 
tehmightypirate said:
That's actually why my dad mentioned it, we were doing a parallel departure with an air guard helicopter from the taxiway.
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I hope you were watching out for their rotor wash (e.g. upwind).
 
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I took my PPL checkride at Yerrington NV when the runway was closed for repair. The DPE was big on seeing lots of landings so I used that taxiway 8 or 10 times that day.
 
Took off and landed on the parallel taxiway, per NOTAM instructions, when the main runway was closed at Sulphur Springs, TX for resurfacing!
 
TangoWhiskey said:
Took off and landed on the parallel taxiway, per NOTAM instructions, when the main runway was closed at Sulphur Springs, TX for resurfacing!
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Same thing at Lake Jackson, TX a couple years back.
 
RotorDude said:
I hope you were watching out for their rotor wash (e.g. upwind).
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We were parallel elevation with them on climb out and about 800 feet at closest but above them then. Never considered roter wash to be as bad as wake turbulence. It's it something that I should pay more attention to? There's a lot of helicopter opps at the field these days.
 
tehmightypirate said:
We were parallel elevation with them on climb out and about 800 feet at closest but above them then. Never considered roter wash to be as bad as wake turbulence. It's it something that I should pay more attention to? There's a lot of helicopter opps at the field these days.
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Here is a blurb by Flying. I'll try to find more. Definitely something to watch out for.

AIM 7-3-7. Helicopters

In a slow hover taxi or stationary hover near the surface, helicopter main rotor(s) generate downwash producing high velocity outwash vortices to a distance approximately three times the diameter of the rotor. When rotor downwash hits the surface, the resulting outwash vortices have behavioral characteristics similar to wing tip vortices produced by fixed wing aircraft. However, the vortex circulation is outward, upward, around, and away from the main rotor(s) in all directions. Pilots of small aircraft should avoid operating within three rotor diameters of any helicopter in a slow hover taxi or stationary hover. In forward flight, departing or landing helicopters produce a pair of strong, high-speed trailing vortices similar to wing tip vortices of larger fixed wing aircraft. Pilots of small aircraft should use caution when operating behind or crossing behind landing and departing helicopters.
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(See AIM 7-3-7)
 
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Ive always wanted to takeoff from a taxiway, or land on one.

Might have to ask next time I visit a towered airport.
 
Juneau, AK (PAJN) I think the runway will be resurface this year rwy 8/26. From what I read we will be using a parallel taxi way from April 2015 to June 2015. Wont bother me but I'm sure the 737's will be happy when the work is done.
 
When we have to close the runway, we make operating from the taxiway allowed at pilots discretion. 35' width vs 70'. Took considerable care not to have dips and humps when building the taxiway.
 
Runway 33R at Long Island's MacArthur airport is essentially a taxiway in the sense that it's the same width as the taxiways and it's positioning at the airport, it just has runway markings in it.

Certainly not the first choice but if necessary and if free of obstacles a taxiway can be a nice 50ft wide runway for small aircraft.
 
Not particularly uncommon. Colorado City TX it was common for me to land the PA-12 on the diagonal taxiway or on the ramp due to the winds. A few times going here and there I have landed at places with an X on the runway and threshold markings and numbers on what is obviously the taxiway when the runway is not being improved.
 
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They used to allow it at KPUB from time to time before they just repainted the ramp and called it a runway.
 
I wasn't there (I was providing chase services in my car), but our physics teacher/CFI who was the sponsor of our college flight club landed on a taxiway at BWI one week (we would shuttle up from Baltimore city up to Frederick to help him work on the Taylorcraft that he was eventually to give flight instruction in).
 
Seanaldinho said:
Why not? Just kinda a fun thing to do. If Im not happy with the way it looks I'll go around and land on the runway. No harm, no foul.
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Kinda fun to land on a piece of pavement that's designated as something other than a runway just because it's so designated? Whatever spins your prop dude, I just don't see it.
 
My home field is 2,500 x 30. I am much more comfortable landing on most taxi ways. :goofy:

I landed on a taxi way at either KMSN or Janesville when the runway was closed, and the wind was too strong to use another runway. They gave me the option of landing on the taxi way. I took it.
 
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Did it at my home airport when they were resurfacing the runway.

denverpilot said:
They used to allow it at KPUB from time to time before they just repainted the ramp and called it a runway.
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Did it there as well for Initial Flight Screening ;)
 
RotorDude said:
I hope you were watching out for their rotor wash (e.g. upwind).
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Holy crap! You're not kidding with the rotor wash! Everyone needs to see this video if you have regular opps next to helicopters like I do. Really didn't appreciate how much wake these have.

 
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