ATCT CTLR WORKING LCL AND GND CTL POS COMBINED AND HAD JUST ASSUMED THOSE POS; CLRED A VEHICLE TO CROSS THE ACTIVE RWY AS A C130 WAS STARTING HIS TKOF ROLL. THE C130 ADVISED TWR HE WAS ABORTING TKOF DUE TO VEHICLE ON THE RWY.
Synopsis
ATCT CTLR WORKING LCL AND GND CTL POS COMBINED AND HAD JUST ASSUMED THOSE POS; CLRED A VEHICLE TO CROSS THE ACTIVE RWY AS A C130 WAS STARTING HIS TKOF ROLL. THE C130 ADVISED TWR HE WAS ABORTING TKOF DUE TO VEHICLE ON THE RWY.
Narrative
ON SEP/THU/96; I WAS DIRECTLY INVOLVED IN AN OPERROR THAT OCCURRED AT XA41 AM MDT. THE INCIDENT IN QUESTION OCCURRED IMMEDIATELY AFTER I ASSUMED CTL OF THE LCL/GND POS. C130 HAD JUST BEEN CLRED FOR TKOF ON RWY 35 BY THE PREVIOUS CTLR AND PRIOR TO THE POS RELIEF BRIEFING. AFTER THE BRIEFING; I ASSUMED CTL OF THE LCL/GND POS. A GND VEHICLE REQUESTED CLRNC TO CROSS RWY 35 AT MID FIELD. UNDER THE ASSUMPTION THE C130 WAS NOT YET CLRED FOR TKOF; I CLRED THE VEHICLE TO CROSS RWY 35. THE C130 THEN ADVISED OF THE ABORTED TKOF DUE TO A VEHICLE ON THE RWY. THE POS RELIEF BRIEFING THAT I RECEIVED WAS COMPLETE AND CONCISE. TFC WAS LIGHT; WITH ONLY 3 ACFT ON FREQ AND A GND VEHICLE. THE C130 BROUGHT THE INCIDENT TO MY ATTN BY ADVISING HIS ABORTED TKOF. MY PERCEPTION OF THE TFC PICTURE WAS THAT THE C130 DID NOT HAVE A TKOF CLRNC. A HEARBACK PROB DURING THE POS RELIEF BRIEFING PLAYED A CONTRIBUTING FACTOR IN THE INCIDENT. THE PERCEPTION OF WHAT I HEARD DURING THE BRIEFING; WAS IN ACTUALITY; NOT WHAT WAS COMMUNICATED. IN ADDITION; A BREAKDOWN IN VISUAL SCANNING TECHNIQUES ALSO PLAYED A ROLE. HAD I SCANNED THE RWY VISUALLY PRIOR TO ISSUING THE XING CLRNC; IT WOULD HAVE ALERTED ME THAT AN ACFT WAS IN POS FOR TKOF. LACK OF AWARENESS; RATHER THAN POOR JUDGEMENT WERE PRIMARY FACTORS IN THE INCIDENT. ON THAT DAY; PRIOR TO RPTING FOR WORK; I CONSIDERED REQUESTING SICK LEAVE DUE TO A PHYSICAL ILLNESS. MY DECISION WAS TO RPT FOR WORK. COGNITIVE AWARENESS WAS SOMEWHAT REDUCED BY THIS CONDITION AND I OVERESTIMATED MY ABILITIES TO FUNCTION UNDER THESE CIRCUMSTANCES. IN FUTURE; ESTABLISHING GOOD READBACK/HEARBACK TECHNIQUES AND INCORPORATING CONSISTENT SCANNING TECHNIQUES; I BELIEVE WILL HELP ELIMINATE FUTURE INCIDENTS SUCH AS THESE. UTILIZING SICK LEAVE THAT IS PROVIDED SHOULD BE ENCOURAGED AND UTILIZED WHEN PHYSIOLOGICALLY ONE IS NOT FUNCTIONING 100 PERCENT.
More incidents for this aircraft family →
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.