Narrative:

A B767 was cleared for the VOR approach to runway 13L. The aircraft tried to land on the parallel runway 13R which was being used as a departure runway only. The preceding arrival had vacated the runway and the asde-X had just failed adding to the complexity. We were also trying to coordinate a runway change due to a wind shift and impending runway closure. The aircraft turned final toward the wrong runway with an E190 rolling on departure. The aircraft 'piggy backed' each other and it was very difficult to get B767 to respond to instructions. This has happened multiple times during my career; lead in lights should never be on for the departure runway which adds to the pilots confusion while on the non-precision approach. This was very nearly a repeat of the incident at lax. The lead in lights for runway 13R should not be turned on when it is the departure only runway.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: JFK Controller described a conflict event when landing traffic attempted to land on a parallel runway with traffic departing; the reporter suggesting the approach lighting system for a departure runways should be turned off to preclude similar events.

Narrative: A B767 was cleared for the VOR approach to Runway 13L. The aircraft tried to land on the parallel Runway 13R which was being used as a departure runway only. The preceding arrival had vacated the runway and the ASDE-X had just failed adding to the complexity. We were also trying to coordinate a runway change due to a wind shift and impending runway closure. The aircraft turned final toward the wrong runway with an E190 rolling on departure. The aircraft 'piggy backed' each other and it was very difficult to get B767 to respond to instructions. This has happened multiple times during my career; lead in lights should never be on for the departure runway which adds to the pilots confusion while on the non-precision approach. This was very nearly a repeat of the incident at LAX. The lead in lights for Runway 13R should not be turned on when it is the departure only runway.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.