Gaffes at Newark Liberty Airport

Continental Airlines pilot lands plane at Newark Liberty airport. No big deal. Happens all the time.

However, it isn't every day that a plane lands on the taxiway, not the runway. That's a huge deal.

The taxiway is half the width of the runway, and it was quite fortuitous that the taxiway was clear of other vehicles and planes or else it could have been a major catastrophe.

The conditions at the time of the landing were clear and no problems with visibility. The flight crew not only put their passengers in danger, but violated FAA rules by not reporting the incident - a missed runway. The two pilots have been grounded pending a further review.

Meanwhile, earlier today two other planes were involved in an incident where one clipped the wings of the other.

In the Tuesday accident, an outbound Lufthansa Boeing 747 clipped the right wing of a Continental Boeing 757, said Russ Halleran, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association local at the airport.

None of the Lufthansa flight's 291 passengers and 17 crew members were injured in the collision, according to Lufthansa spokeswoman Jennifer Urbaniak.

The flight was bound for Frankfurt, Germany. The Lufthansa plane returned to the gate and the airline was making arrangements for the passengers to take another flight, Urbaniak said.

The pilots in the latest incident were also grounded.