Bob CollinsHarrison Ford was nothing if not contrite when he mistakenly flew over the top of an airliner waiting to take off at John Wayne Airport in Orange County, Calif., and landed on a taxiway instead.
The Federal Aviation Administration has released air traffic control and telephone tapes of the February incident under a Freedom of Information Act request.
Ford was cleared to land on left parallel runway by controllers, but sidestepped to a taxiway instead. In this audio, controllers tell him he landed on a taxiway (known as “Charlie”) instead of the runway.
Then Ford got the worst radio call any pilot can get from air traffic control: A request to call the tower on the telephone.
The pilot of the airliner waiting to depart called the tower, too. He wasn’t happy.
By the time Ford called, there was little confusion about who was at fault.
“I’m the schmuck that landed on the taxiway,” he said.
Ford said he was distracted by a warning he received from the tower about wake turbulence from a landing jetliner.
The FAA investigation into the incident is continuing and no discipline against Ford has yet been issued.
