CARGO WDB CREW ACCUSED OF IMPINGING ON AN 'OBSTACLE CRITICAL AREA.'

Date: 1993-10 · Aircraft: Widebody; Low Wing; 4 Turbojet Eng

Anomalies: ground-incursion-runway|other-unspecified

Synopsis

CARGO WDB CREW ACCUSED OF IMPINGING ON AN 'OBSTACLE CRITICAL AREA.'

Narrative

AFTER A 5 HR MAINT DELAY; I AGAIN CALLED FOR TAXI CLRNC AT ABOUT XG00 LCL. 5 HRS PREVIOUS; DURING THE FIRST CALL TO TAXI; WE WERE CLRED TO TAXI TO RWY 25R; HOLD SHORT OF RWY 25L. RWY 25L WAS NOT ACTIVE. WITH THIS SECOND CALL TO TAXI; I UNDERSTOOD THE INSTRUCTIONS TO BE THE SAME. TAXI TO RWY 25R; HOLD SHORT OF RWY 25L AT 8 (MEANING TXWY 8). WE TAXIED UP TO RWY 25L; HELD SHORT OF THE RWY ON TXWY 8. THE GND CTLR ASKED IF WE HAD MADE THE TURN ONTO TXWY 8. I SAID THAT WE DID BECAUSE OUR TAXI INSTRUCTIONS SAID RWY 25R; HOLD SHORT OF RWY 25L. (AT THIS POINT WE HAD NOT CROSSED ANY RWYS; ACTIVE OR INACTIVE.) THE GND CTLR THEN SAID THAT BY TAXIING ON TXWY 8; WE HAD CROSSED INTO THE ILS CRITICAL AREA OF RWY 25L. DURING OUR 5 HR DELAY; RWY 25L HAD BECOME ACTIVE WITH ARRS. WE WERE STARTING OUR TRIP AT LAX; DID NOT COPY THE ARR ATIS; AND THE DEP ATIS ONLY LISTS THE DEP RWYS. WE ALSO STATED THAT THERE WERE NO YELLOW AND BLACK UNITED STATES ARPT SIGNS PAINTED ON ANY CONCRETE TXWY DEFINING THE ILS CRITICAL AREA; NOR WERE THERE ANY RED AND WHITE UNITED STATES ARPT SIGNS MARKING THE ILS CRITICAL AREA. THE GND CTLR THEN STATED THAT OUR TAXI CLRNC WAS TO RWY 25R; HOLD SHORT OF RWY 25L AND TXWY 8. I UNDERSTOOD TAXI TO RWY 25R; HOLD SHORT OF RWY 25L AT TXWY 8. (A DIFFERENCE OF 'AND' OR 'AT'.) THE DIFFERENCE BTWN THE WORDS 'AND' AND 'AT' CAN BE CONFUSING AT XG00 WHEN OUR WAKEUP CALL WAS AT XA00. CTLING TFC AT XG00 CAN BE TIRING WHEN A PERSON HAS PROBABLY ALSO BEEN WORKING ALL NIGHT. NO ACFT MOVEMENT WAS DISRUPTED DURING OUR TAXI ONTO A TXWY; WE HELD THERE. THE CTLR DID HAVE TO STATE TO 2 ARRIVING ACFT THAT THE ILS CRITICAL AREA HAD AN ACFT IN THE AREA; AND WE PROCEEDED NORMALLY TO THE DEP RWY 25R. LESSONS: LISTEN UP TO TAXI INSTRUCTIONS. WHERE ARE THE YELLOW PAINTED ARPT SIGNS? WHERE ARE THE RED/WHITE ARPT SIGNS? SHOULD NOT THE ATIS MENTION WHEN CRITICAL AREAS ARE ACTIVE? SHOULD NOT DEP ATIS MENTION THE ARR RWYS? SHOULD NOT THE 10-9 PAGES IN THE MANUAL SHOW CRITICAL AREAS ON THE ARPT DIAGRAM. I KNOW; AFTER 22 YRS OF FLYING; IT IS AN ART; MORE DIFFICULT; I ASSUME THAN BRAIN SURGERY. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH REPORTER REVEALED THE FOLLOWING: THERE ARE NO SIGNS INDICATING THAT AN ILS CRITICAL AREA EXISTS AT THE E END OF THE RWYS. THIS PER A CALLBACK TO THE RPTR WHO ADDED THAT THEY TAXIED FROM THE SE CARGO AREA N ON TXWY 4; W ON TXWY F AND N ON TXWY 8 AND HELD SHORT OF RWY 25L. IN A CALLBACK TO AN ATCT CTLR; ANALYST WAS TOLD THAT THERE IS ALSO AN 'OBSTACLE CRITICAL AREA' THAT IS TO BE KEPT CLR DURING CAT II APCHS. ACFT ON TXWY F ARE CLR BUT AS SOON AS THEY TURN N ON TXWY 8; THEY ARE IN THIS AREA. HE SAID THE ONLY WAY A PLT WOULD KNOW THIS IS FOR THE CTLR TO EXPLICITLY INSTRUCT THE PLT TO HOLD SHORT OF TXWY 8.

Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.