Taxiway landing video.

Nice landing .
I asked my CFI (who is also the airport manager) if I could land on the taxiway of local airport . He said sure.
Not sure if he was pulling my leg or not . More regulation reading required ......
 
Hmmm... it could be argued he merely transitioned from air taxiing to ground taxiing.

I’ve always wondered that about landing on taxiways of uncontrolled airfields.

I would certainly not hesitate for safety reasons.

I’ve seen taxiways used as temp runways plenty.
 
Some years ago I used to occasionally land in the grass between the runway and taxiway at my home field. Of course I knew the area very well, and it was before the tower came in and frowned upon such things.
If it were a full blown emergency, like an engine failure after TO, I would not hesitate to land on any paved surface or anything else, as long as it was clear of other traffic.
 
Southpaw said:
Nice landing .
I asked my CFI (who is also the airport manager) if I could land on the taxiway of local airport . He said sure.
Not sure if he was pulling my leg or not . More regulation reading required ......
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There is no FAR that requires you to takeoff or land on a runway, nor prohibits use of a taxiway. Now if you get into an accident you may have some explaining to do, and they can always throw FAR 91.13 at you.

At our airport there is the occasional day the a particular wind direction favors neither of the two runways, but there is a taxiway that runs into the wind that direction. Not that anyone would ever use it...
 
Well that’s a helicopter. They never land on the runway at my airport. They do hover the taxiways to parking though which I assume is normal...I don’t fly helicopters. Maybe just saving time at an empty airport.
 
champ driver said:
Some years ago I used to occasionally land in the grass between the runway and taxiway at my home field. Of course I knew the area very well, and it was before the tower came in and frowned upon such things.
If it were a full blown emergency, like an engine failure after TO, I would not hesitate to land on any paved surface or anything else, as long as it was clear of other traffic.
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I, and most of the taildragger guys at my home field, usually land on the grass between the runway and taxiway, if nobody's taxiing on the taxiway. There's about 900' of grass either side of the midfield cross taxiway. Uncontrolled airport, of course.

Long ago when I was a student pilot I visited a control tower and was talking about a plane that had a gear failure, wondering if landing on the grass would cause less damage. The controller said he couldn't actually issue a landing clearance for the grass, but in an emergency the pilot could do whatever he wanted, of course.
 
RussS said:
Well that’s a helicopter. They never land on the runway at my airport. They do hover the taxiways to parking though which I assume is normal...I don’t fly helicopters. Maybe just saving time at an empty airport.
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Don't think it's a helicopter, but rather an gyrocopter.
 
Shows what I know!
 
Dana said:
Long ago when I was a student pilot I visited a control tower and was talking about a plane that had a gear failure, wondering if landing on the grass would cause less damage. The controller said he couldn't actually issue a landing clearance for the grass, but in an emergency the pilot could do whatever he wanted, of course.
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Concrete>Grass
 
RyanShort1 said:
Concrete>Grass
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Dana said:
Long ago when I was a student pilot I visited a control tower and was talking about a plane that had a gear failure, wondering if landing on the grass would cause less damage.
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That is a topic that has been beaten to death. But as a pilot, CFI, airport manager, and airport firefighter, I would never opt for the grass with a gear failure.
 
midwestpa24 said:
That is a topic that has been beaten to death. But as a pilot, CFI, airport manager, and airport firefighter, I would never opt for the grass with a gear failure.
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Never is a long time, but I do know of one airplane that I would specifically choose grass. The fuel drains on a Staggerwing are the low point on the airplane when the gear is retracted.
 
My CFI and I landed on taxiway A at KONZ doing emergency training. I was probably 30 hours in to my PPL at the time. He made it sound like it wasn't a big deal. No other traffic in the pattern or on the taxiways. He later told me that taxiway A was a runway "back in the day".
 
Rotorcraft can land on taxiways..

Ever flown to SunNFun...you landed on a taxiway.
 
Doug Reid said:
Rotorcraft can land on taxiways..
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Anything "can" land on a taxiway.

Ever flown to SunNFun...you landed on a taxiway.
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Or Oshkosh, but in both cases they were redesignated as a runway. When they were repaving GAI a bunch of years back, we used the taxiway as a runway as well.

My first instructor, Cal Walker (passed a few years back) created a little commotion at BWI back when I was in college by landing a 182 on the taxiway there.

There have been more than a few planes that have landed on Taxiway C at the old Stapleton airport. Continental had a pilot unfortunately enough to do it in a DC-9 with the airline president on board the aircraft.
 
Domenick said:
Why? I'd like to know why the guy in the video landed on the taxiway.
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Two reasons:
1. To take this video, post in on PoA, and count number of times question "Why?" is asked. (So far I counted only two)
2. Why not? :)

BTW, did you like the video? :)
 
Didn't Harrison Ford land on a taxiway? Maybe this was him up to his old tricks.
 
Racerx said:
There was a correct answer but neither of yours were it. Not a fan of this whole "look at me" generation.
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Correct and honest answer is "Because I can". Have to admit I'm not a fan of baby-boomers generation too.
 
midwestpa24 said:
That is a topic that has been beaten to death. But as a pilot, CFI, airport manager, and airport firefighter, I would never opt for the grass with a gear failure.
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What are your personal reasons. (BTW--I'm not going to argue.)

Silent Reader said:
Two reasons:
1. To take this video, post in on PoA, and count number of times question "Why?" is asked. (So far I counted only two)
2. Why not? :)
BTW, did you like the video? :)
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I didn't think the video was anything special.The plane landed--yawn. My homedrome's runway is about that wide and shorter.
 
Domenick said:
What are your personal reasons. (BTW--I'm not going to argue.)
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1. I've spent years maintaining the grass safety areas of an airport. They are not nearly as smooth as they appear, and can hide various defects and obstacles. With pavement you know you have a flat, smooth, unobstructed surface.
2. Depending on the soil conditions, any part of the aircraft could suddenly dig in, causing the airplane to cartwheel, spin, or pitch pole over on its back.
3. You will still likely cause damage to the belly of the airplane. Instead of scratches you get dents, but damage nonetheless.
4. Recovering the aircraft from the grass is all that more difficult, depending on the conditions.
5. A gear up landing is really not a life safety issue. I don't recall any gear up landing on pavement resulting in much more than a twisted ankle from trying to run from the plane. Honestly the worst looking gear up's I've seen were caused by pilots trying to save the airplane/engine/prop instead of just landing the plane.
6. It is now the insurance company's problem. I'm not risking injury to myself or others in an attempt to save sheet metal.
 
Racerx said:
Was unaware 31 was considered boomer...
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From '47 - '95 there were many 31 year old boomers. In '31 they were the Silent Generation.

<- That guy is GenX. His five brothers are Baby Boomers. So, I guess his parents got the memo.
 
Firstly, nobody knows how gyrocopters work. No one. Not one soul.

My own pet theory is that they generate lift by “spinning all the drag up” using aerodynamic principles unknowable to man, but I certainly don’t expect to convince anyone of this any more than the driven/driving/stalled rotor disc sections nonsense has ever convinced me. However confident a gyrocopter instructor may be in their explanations, be assured, They Do Not Understand Either.

Secondly, in my experience a gyro-captain will land in just about any bizarre place you can think of, but mostly they land on the apron right in front of their hangar whenever they think nobody’s watching or know nobody cares. Wherever you live, a gyrocopter has probably at some point landed in your yard or is going to soon — even the White House. I’ll bet we find one on the moon someday.

They’ll need 4,000 feet or so to take off again, but there is almost never cause to be surprised by where one lands.
 
Dana said:
I, and most of the taildragger guys at my home field, usually land on the grass between the runway and taxiway, if nobody's taxiing on the taxiway. There's about 900' of grass either side of the midfield cross taxiway. Uncontrolled airport, of course.

Long ago when I was a student pilot I visited a control tower and was talking about a plane that had a gear failure, wondering if landing on the grass would cause less damage. The controller said he couldn't actually issue a landing clearance for the grass, but in an emergency the pilot could do whatever he wanted, of course.
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Guy in the tower where I used to be based said he could clear me to land on the grass at my own risk if I requested it. Dunno if that's legit or not.
 
Dana said:
I, and most of the taildragger guys at my home field, usually land on the grass between the runway and taxiway, if nobody's taxiing on the taxiway. There's about 900' of grass either side of the midfield cross taxiway. Uncontrolled airport, of course.

Long ago when I was a student pilot I visited a control tower and was talking about a plane that had a gear failure, wondering if landing on the grass would cause less damage. The controller said he couldn't actually issue a landing clearance for the grass, but in an emergency the pilot could do whatever he wanted, of course.
Click to expand...

Landing between the runways seems like a common practice in some areas, even if frowned on, but not prohibited by the airport or FAA. However as should be obvious you do so at you own risk as one local pilot found out that just because a lot of other people are doing it doesn't mean it doesn't have risks, like the survey marker that took the right landing gear off of his plane.

http://www.kathrynsreport.com/2019/12/barrows-bearhawk-n719js-accident.html

Brian
 
Same as landing at closed airports. You can get in deep kimchi with the owner/operator of the airport, but the FAA doesn't arbitrate that.
 
flyingron said:
Same as landing at closed airports. You can get in deep kimchi with the owner/operator of the airport, but the FAA doesn't arbitrate that.
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I wouldn't quite take it that far. If the airport or runway is NOTAMed closed the FAA very well will have something to say about that...assuming you aren't a sitting Senator.
 
midwestpa24 said:
1. I've spent years maintaining the grass safety areas of an airport. They are not nearly as smooth as they appear, and can hide various defects and obstacles. With pavement you know you have a flat, smooth, unobstructed surface. ...
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Thank you.
 
midwestpa24 said:
I wouldn't quite take it that far. If the airport or runway is NOTAMed closed the FAA very well will have something to say about that...assuming you aren't a sitting Senator.
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Depends whether you fall into the careless or reckless trap. The official answer is if the airport is closed it's between you and the airport. Even if there's a tower, ATC is to tell you that its' at your own risk.

Of course, my favorite story was years ago there was a NOTAM for a local airport that it was closed until 4PM for runway maintenance. At 4:01 some Bonanza pilot blasts down on his takeoff roll narrowly missing the guy removing the temporary X from the end of the runway. The moral is that no matter what the NOTAM says, it ain't open until the guy is done picking up the big X.
 
You won't get a NOTAM that the airport is closed, unless it is closed forever.

You will get one that the RUNWAY is closed.
 
midwestpa24 said:
There is no FAR that requires you to takeoff or land on a runway, nor prohibits use of a taxiway. Now if you get into an accident you may have some explaining to do, and they can always throw FAR 91.13 at you.

At our airport there is the occasional day the a particular wind direction favors neither of the two runways, but there is a taxiway that runs into the wind that direction. Not that anyone would ever use it...
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At VGT, (North Las Vegas NV) unwritten rule, if you can't handle the crosswind on Rwy 25 or Rwy 12L/R, ask for Taxiway Hotel. Tower will approve with "Land at own risk" and block any crossing traffic on cross taxiways and Rwy 12L/R. Taxiway Hotel is the remainder of an old runway that closed many years ago. When the wind kicks up above 30knts it is more likely from 170-180 azimuth. Land with no issues and you're good to go. Have other issues like running off the taxiway, unable to maintain control, take out some lights, then the airport manager and FSDO get involved. You could always go to Henderson NV (HND) on south side of town for Rwy 17, but most likely down there the wind will be from 230-240.
 
I used to regularly take off and land on the Bravo taxiway at NAS Whidbey Island in the flying club's aircraft. Of course, its longer and wider than many of the regular runways we operated off of.

50982938223_ab8101c756_z.jpg
 
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