Ground Collision Follows Taxiway Landing Incident

Continental Airlines has had difficulty staying out of the news this week, following two incidents at New Jersey's Newark International Airport.

As Aero-News reported, the airline has grounded the two pilots involved in Saturday's landing faux pas at Newark. In a scary moment for all involved, a 757 with 160 passengers onboard landed on a parallel taxiway, instead of the adjacent runway.

Newark airport officials tell the Associated Press all navigation equipment and airport lighting was operating properly at the time. Although federal investigators are looking into the incident, so far the grounded pilots haven't been interviewed.

Authorities say the cockpit voice recorder won't help... because Continental used the jet for a subsequent flight. Since the CVR records on a continuous 30 minute loop, the tape of the incident was recorded over on the follow-on flight.

A report in the New York Post also suggests tower personnel didn't notice at first the plane had landed on the taxiway... and the pilot didn't tell them. Controllers said a frightened port authority employee working in a building just off the taxiway called them, reporting a plane moving too fast on the taxiway. The Post reports the crew fessed up when the tower supervisor radioed them after that phone call.

Meanwhile, another incident at Newark caused a flight cancellation -- at least for one of the jets involved. A Lufthansa 747 was taxiing out from the terminal when it brushed wingtips with a Continental 757 that was being pulled by a tug.

No injuries were reported on Lufthansa flight 403 bound for Frankfurt with over 300 aboard; the 757 was unoccupied. The Lufthansa crew returned to the gate, where the passengers got to bag drag to a new jet for the flight to Frankfurt.

Other Newark operations were unaffected by the incident, according to a port authority spokesman. Again, authorities are investigating.

FMI: www.continental.com