No one was hurt Monday when a small plane landed on a taxiway at the Pullman-Moscow Regional Airport that is temporarily closed to air traffic while crews finish reconstructing the facility’s only runway.

The pilot was flying a general aviation plane, perhaps from Spokane, and didn’t have any passengers, said Executive Director Tony Bean.

The aircraft landed in Pullman even though the airport has markings that show the runway is closed and has published the closure in notices all pilots are supposed to check before they fly, he said.

The pilot may have announced he was landing on a radio system, but those communications aren’t being monitored by firefighting and operations employees during the runway outage.

“There (was) no emergency that we’re aware of,” Bean said.

Construction crews were working in the vicinity of where the pilot touched down on a taxiway that is roughly 60 feet wide, about the same width as some runways that type of plane uses.

“It’s not acceptable,” he said. “It puts the contractors, the pilot and others in jeopardy. ... The contractors aren’t watching the sky. They are focused on their job.”

The plane will likely remain parked at the Pullman airport until the runway is reopened for general aviation Oct. 4, a week before commercial passenger flights resume.

The incident has been reported to the Federal Aviation Administration.

The runway closed Sept. 8 so that workers could complete parts of a $154 million project that can only be done when planes aren’t arriving and departing.

The upgrade includes lengthening the runway from 6,730 feet to 7,100 feet and adding an instrument landing system. Together, those improvements are anticipated to allow planes to land in conditions that would have previously forced them to divert to other airports.

Williams may be contacted at [email protected] or (208) 848-2261.

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