1996-08 · NASA ASRS report 345975
AN A300-600 FREIGHTER WAS CLRED FOR TKOF DURING A BUSY PERIOD OF RADIO COM AND APPARENTLY THE CTLR ATTEMPTED TO CANCEL THE TKOF CLRNC; BUT DID NOT XMIT ON THE FREIGHTER'S FREQ.
WE WERE FLYING AN A300-600; IFR DEN-MEM. HVY TSTM AND LIGHTNING IN AREA. I WAS LINE CHK AIRMAN IN R SEAT GIVING A LINE CHK TO ANOTHER INSTRUCTOR. MUCH RADIO CHATTER DUE TO WX. ON CONTACTING GND LEAVING THE CARGO AREA WE WERE ASKED IF WE WOULD ACCEPT A N DEP DUE TO BAD WX TO THE E OF DEN. OUR RADAR; POINTED E; SHOWED LARGE RED CELLS DUE E AND WE DECIDED THAT N WAS AN EXCELLENT IDEA. WE WERE SWITCHED TO CLRNC AS WE NEARED RWY 35L AND COPIED AN ENTIRE NEW SID AND ENRTE CLRNC. AS THE FO ON THIS LEG I ENTERED IN THE NEW FMS ROUTING; CONFIRMED. THEN CLRNC SENT US TO TWR; 132.35. I SWITCHED; AND AFTER A MOMENT OF UNNATURAL SILENCE; REALIZED I HAD DIALED IN 132.25. WE CORRECTED THE ERROR AND; AFTER CHKING IN WITH TWR; WERE 'CLRED FOR TKOF; RWY 35L.' WE FINISHED OUR TKOF CHKLIST; AND WERE TAKING THE RWY. AS WE DID SO; I RECALL SEVERAL PROMPTS FROM THE TWR SENDING US THE IDEA IT WAS URGENT THAT WE GET GOING. THE AIRBUS A300-600 DOES NOT TAXI LIKE A B737 AND IS SLOW TAKING THE RWY. THERE WERE MANY; MANY TWR XMISSIONS THROUGHOUT THIS EVOLUTION. AFTER WE WERE AIRBORNE SOME 3 MINS; DEN TWR ASKED US HOW WE READ THEM. I REPLIED THE XMISSION WAS CLR. THE TWR OPERATOR THEN SAID; 'THE REASON I ASKED YOU WAS BECAUSE I CANCELED YOUR TKOF CLRNC.' BOTH OF US IN THE COCKPIT WERE STUNNED. WE PULLED THE CVR CIRCUIT BREAKERS IMMEDIATELY. WE WERE SURE NO SUCH CANCELLATION WAS GIVEN US. NEXT DAY OUR FLT SAFETY OFFICE CONFIRMED THAT NO LESS THAN 5 PEOPLE LISTENED TO THE TAPES AND NO CANCELLATION WAS HEARD (WHEW). NOW; THE REAL PROB; DENVER'S NEW ARPT HAS BECOME; IN MY MIND; A HAZARD. PATTERN SPDS ARE ROUTINELY TOO FAST; 13000 FT IN CLOSE IS ROUTINE; TAILWIND LNDGS ACCEPTABLE; ETC. OUR NIGHT 'SCARE' WAS DUE TO A RUSH/RUSH/RUSH TFC CTL DUE TO TERRIBLE WX. THINGS NEED TO SLOW DOWN IN SUCH CONDITIONS. DENVER IS THE NEXT LNDG/TKOF ACCIDENT SITE. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING INFO: THIS RPTR SAID THAT HE ONLY OCCASIONALLY OPERATES AT DEN; BUT HE HAS SEEN NUMEROUS PROBS WITH THE ARPT. IN THIS CASE; HE SAID THAT WHILE THE FREQ WAS BUSY IT WAS NOT UNUSUALLY SO AND AFTER REVIEWING THE CVR TAPES HE THINKS THAT THERE WAS AT LEAST ONE BLOCKED XMISSION; BUT NOTHING DISCERNIBLE AS CANCELING THE TKOF CLRNC. THE RPTR SAID THAT HIS COMPANY TOLD HIM THAT THE FAA HAS NOTIFIED THEM THAT THE INVESTIGATION HAS BEEN DROPPED.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.
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