Landing on the Taxiway

The recent news at Atlanta's Hartfield Jackson is centered around a Delta flight landing on a taxiway instead of the runway.  Apparently, the flight from Rio de Janeiro was cleared to land 27R but landed on the paralleling taxiway M instead.  The crew reported they had a medical situation on board at the time, but the FAA's Kathleen Burgen points out that even then they should have landed on the runway.

Luckily, the taxiway was empty at the time and no one was hurt.  Had it been occupied, we might be discussing a much larger catastrophe right now.  This potential is what makes these things imperative; a pilot should always know exactly where the runway is and that he/she is approaching to land at the right one.  On the other hand, at such a large airport, especially with the large taxiways Atlanta has, I can see where a pilot could slip up; however unacceptable it is.

Fortunately, I've never had this problem.  The airports I fly out of are designed in a way that leaves no question as to which bit of asphalt is the runway.  At night, it's even harder to mix them up.  Runway lights are white; taxiway lights are blue (although at smaller/older airports they sometimes look more green).