The US Federal Aviation Administration has opened an investigation into a flightcrew error that resulted in an EVA Air cargo aircraft taking off from a taxiway at Anchorage International airport in Alaska earlier this month.
The regulator declines to comment further than confirming that an investigation has been opened. However, a US National Transportation Safety Board investigator has separately confirmed that the incident involved an EVA Air Boeing MD-11 freighter and the taxiway parallel to Runway 32 at Anchorage.
According to local reports, the incident occurred on 5 November when the aircraft was redirected by air traffic control to Runway 32 during taxi. However, instead of turning onto the runway, the pilot reportedly ended up on the shorter taxiway to the west of the runway.
The aircraft took off and completed its flight to Taipei without incident, according to the NTSB investigator.
This event mirrors a similar taxiway take-off incident involving and Airbus A340-300 operated by fellow Taiwanese carier China Airlines in January 2002.
Source: Flight International
