[fingpilot]

Couple of things. By no stretch of the imagination am I backing up the Atlanta guys. Lets do that one first.

Medical emergency aside. Atlanta is a BIG sprawling (multiple runway) airport. You break out of the clouds, and unless you have electronic guidance, you REALLY have to KNOW which strip of pavement you are landing on. Depending on lighting, condition of the touchdown zone (and the rubber-covered paint there), it is SUPRISINGLY EASY to mis-identify which strip of parallel pavement is yours.

Turns out, the medical emergency was a check airman who was on the jumpseat in the cockpit. He was ill enough to have to be removed from the cockpit decending out of 10,000 feet, and the approach and landing was 'expedited'. It was clear, nighttime visual to 27 Right. Runway chosen for shortest taxi to terminal. Approach lights and ILS was not turned on, but runway lights were. They landed on 'November', same width as runway. The taxiway is actually a little shorter than the runway......, and is between 27R and 27L. None of the REILs were on, no strobes, only the edge lighting. Wonder if 27L was lit as well....

Sea of lights out front, hurried checklists, sick boss on seat, night before was 'spent' in Rio, who knows what else (is probably why Check Airman was sick). If taxiway lights were turned up full, they would 'show' as bright as runway lights, maybe even losing the blue hue. As dark as airport surroundings are, full up lights are almost dangerous on a clear night. Not justifying, just saying. Until you've seen it yourself, it's hard to pass along. I know how easy it is to say WTF?!!

That said, I could name LOTS of airports that are tough to ident the runway from the taxiway (daytime) until much closer in. Even nearby airports. Concrete vs Pavement will 'show' differently in angled sunlight, one of them even 'disappearing' until close in.

Anyone ever landed at El Paso,Texas after 3 in the afternoon? There are lots of stories about guys landing at the Biggs Army Airfield alongside El Paso (identical RWY lengths and alignment), and El Paso tower asking how far out they are on final. When the answer comes back that they are on the ground, El Paso tower says to call Biggs Ground for taxi-back instructions.

The NWA guys. Can't fix stupid.

An Airbus A320. Will have the 2 hour recorder. Ok, lets put ourselves in that cockpit. One of them finally wakes up. Two most famous words in aviation. Then the real discussion starts. Knowing it's two hours worth in the box, do you delay, is it worth it (can you fuelwise), or do you erase after on the ground (a violation in itself), or do you take your bullet. You gotta know they both knew they were soon going to be at the ACME School of Truck Driving by the weekend. The NTSB has 'secured' the boxes. Comms were 'lost' over Denver. Rumors are that they were intercepted.

But how stupid to concoct a story about 'heated discussion' of company policy. Wonder which policy? The one about duty times? Layover slots? 8 hours bottle to throttle?

My NWA friends are pretty quiet on this one.