Continental Airlines Flight 1883

Continental Airlines Flight 1883 was a Boeing 757 aircraft that inadvertently touched down on a taxiway at Newark Liberty International Airport on October 28, 2006. Although no injuries or damages occurred, the event led the Federal Aviation Administration to review and update safety protocols at Newark.

Aircraft and flight details

Operating a domestic route from Orlando International Airport to Newark, Flight 1883 utilized a Boeing 757-224 with the registration N17105. Onboard were 148 passengers along with 6 crew members.

The first officer, responsible for flying the approach, was executing a landing on Newark’s runway 29 for the first time.

Incident

Approaching from the north, Flight 1883 initially planned an ILS approach to runway 22L. However, air traffic control redirected the flight to perform a circling approach to runway 29, which involved a low-altitude right-hand turn at approximately .

During the descent phase, the flight crew mistakenly identified four white path indicator lights as positioned to the left of their intended runway, contrary to Newark’s standard where these lights are located on the right. This misjudgment caused the aircraft to land on taxiway Z, which measures wide, instead of runway 29. The Boeing 757, featuring a wingspan of , made contact at a speed near , touching down close to taxiways Z and R before taxiing safely to its gate. All associated lighting systems were verified to be functioning correctly. Runway 29 itself is wide and long.

Investigation

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) undertook an investigation into the occurrence.

As part of their review, the NTSB conducted a flight around Newark to evaluate lighting conditions on runways and taxiways. Under incident-level settings for runway 29 and taxiway lighting, taxiway Z’s illumination appeared marginally brighter than that of runway 29. Nonetheless, the distinct difference in lighting colors—green centerline lights marking taxiway Z versus white lights on runway 29—remained clearly discernible during the approach.

The NTSB determined that the probable cause was:

Aftermath

This unusual occurrence triggered a comprehensive review of runway and taxiway lighting as well as arrival procedures at Newark airport. Consequently, the FAA introduced procedural modifications aimed at minimizing similar future incidents.

In flight operations, two new arrival procedures—GIMEE 19-7-1 and GRITY 19-7-1A—were implemented to provide enhanced navigational support under comparable conditions. On the ground, efforts were made to amplify lighting intensity differences between taxiways and runways to aid pilots in distinguishing surfaces during low visibility.

Following the incident, both pilots were temporarily removed from duty but resumed flying after completing retraining programs.

See also

• List of accidents and incidents involving commercial aircraft
• Air Canada Flight 759, an analogous event in July 2017

External links

• GoogleMaps satellite image showing runway 29 and taxiway Z
• NASA ASRS documentation regarding taxiway occurrence