A B747-400 CARGO CAPT'S RPT ON RWY CONDITIONS AND TAXI RTES EXITING AT TAIPEI ARPT THAT MIGHT INDUCE A WRONG RWY ENTRY AND TKOF; RCTP; FO.

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AT XA30 OCT/XA/00; MY CREW TOOK OFF FROM TPE TO ANC. I HADN'T OPERATED IN TPE FOR ABOUT 2 1/2 YRS AND I NOTICED THERE HAVE BEEN CHANGES TO THE FIELD. SPECIFICALLY; WHEREAS I HAD ALWAYS KNOWN THAT NORMAL OPS WOULD HAVE US TAXI VIA RWY 5R FOR TKOF ON RWY 5L; NOW WE WERE TAXIING VIA RWY 5R; THEN TURNING OFF OF RWY 5R (N6) TO CONTINUE TAXI VIA THE PARALLEL (NP) TO THE END OF THE RWYS. FROM THERE; WE WERE THEN TO TAXI ACROSS RWY 5R IN ORDER TO TAKE OFF ON RWY 5L. NOTE THAT ON THE CURRENT AIRFIELD DIAGRAM PAGE (DATED OCT/XA/00); RWY 5R WAS REDESIGNATED NC. OBSERVATIONS: WHILE ON THE PARALLEL TXWY ABEAM RWY 5R ON OCT/XA/00; WE NOTICED THE CONSTRUCTION ON A PORTION OF RWY 5R. IT WAS A VERY LARGE HOLE CUT INTO THE CONCRETE THAT VERY WELL COULD HAVE BEEN CUT TO THE DIRT; DEPTH-WISE. THE HOLE SEEMED LARGE ENOUGH TO PARK A LARGE PLANE IN. WHEN CLRED TO TAXI ACROSS RWY 5R FOR TKOF ON RWY 5L; MY TAXIING FO AND I BOTH VOICED OUR NATURAL TENDENCY TO MISTAKENLY TURN R AGAIN AND TO TAKE OFF ON RWY 5R INSTEAD. THIS BECAUSE OF 2 THINGS: 1) IN THE SCORES OF TIMES THAT I HAVE OPERATED FROM TPE; TWO QUICK R TURNS WERE ALWAYS DONE WHEN WE HAD TAXIED ALL OF THE WAY DOWN RWY 5R. 2) ON OCT/XA/00; THE RWY WAS LIT UP LIKE AN OPERATING RWY AND THERE WERE NO OBVIOUS MARKINGS (LIKE AN 'X') THAT WOULD INDICATE A CLOSED RWY. (BEING BASED IN LAX; I REMEMBER THE WORK THAT HAS BEEN DONE THERE THIS SUMMER ON RWY 25L. IT WAS QUITE IMPOSSIBLE TO MISTAKE THAT IT WAS CLOSED BECAUSE OF THE EXTREMELY BRIGHTLY LIT 'X' AT THE APCH END OF THAT RWY.) UPDATE: I WROTE THE ABOVE WHILE COMMERCIALIZING ON A RED-EYE FROM ANC TO LAX. UPON ARR AT THE HOTEL; I SEE THAT THE NEWS IS RPTING THAT THE ACFT DID TAKE OFF ON THE WRONG RWY (NOW TXWY NC). AS A FOLLOW UP CONCERN; I CAN ONLY WONDER HOW TXWY NC (FORMERLY RWY 5R) APPEARED TO THE CREW AT TKOF. WERE THE TXWY NC LIGHTS ON EVEN THOUGH IT IS CLOSED? WHAT COLOR ARE THOSE LIGHTS? CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING INFO: THE CAPT WAS ALLOWING THE FO TO TAXI THE ACFT FROM THE R SEAT; WHICH WAS WITHIN THE AIRLINE MGMNT POLICIES. THE FO HAD STARTED A TURN ONTO RWY 5R; CHANGING THE ACFT'S HEADING BY ABOUT 15 DEGS WHEN THE CAPT; WHO HAD PREVIOUSLY HAD HIS HEAD IN THE COCKPIT 'FLIPPING SWITCHES;' SAID; 'THIS ISN'T RIGHT.' THE RELIEF PLT ALSO HAD NOTED THE MISTAKE AND CHIMED IN. HAD THE WX BEEN A FACTOR THE MISTAKE MIGHT HAVE GONE UNNOTICED AS THE HIGH INTENSITY RWY LIGHTS WERE ON. HE LATER SENT AN EMAIL TO A UNION PLT WHO; IT WAS DISCOVERED; PREVIOUSLY HAD EXPERIENCED THE SAME ANOMALY AS THE RPTR HAD THAT EVENING.