GIV Aligns To Land on Taxiway, Narrowly Misses Airliner

A Gulfstream IV operated by Pegasus Elite Aviation under Part 135 came within 200 feet of one of four airliners last month at Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) as it climbed during a missed approach after the pilots aligned to land on a taxiway, according to an NTSB preliminary report. The twinjet was on a visual approach and cleared to land on Runway 35 during the incident on August 10 at 8:50 p.m.

While on approach, the pilot aligned the airplane with Taxiway E. About 500 feet out from the runway end, the pilot initiated a go-around. However, the business jet overflew the four airliners on the taxiway during the go-around climb.

At the time of the approach, the Runway 35 runway-end-identifier lights and the precision-approach-path indicator lights were out of service. There were no injuries to the seven passengers and crew onboard, and the airplane was not damaged. The Safety Board provided no additional information, including whether the GIV crew knew ahead of time that the lights were inoperative.

The incident is reminiscent of an event last year. On July 7, 2017, at approximately midnight, an Air Canada Airbus A320 was cleared to land on Runway 28R at San Francisco International Airport (SFO), but the airplane lined up with parallel Taxiway C, which had four airplanes on it. The aircraft descended to about 60 feet and initiated a go-around after overflying the first airplane on the taxiway.

On September 25, the NTSB plans to hold a board meeting to discuss and release the probable cause of the near miss at SFO.