TXWY LIGHTING OUT CAUSED FLC TO BECOME DISORIENTED ON THEIR TXWY POS. NIGHT; REFLECTION OF ARPT LIGHTS ON WET PAVEMENT CONTRIBUTED. FLC STOPPED ACFT AND WERE TOWED INTO GATE WITHOUT ANY DAMAGE.
Synopsis
TXWY LIGHTING OUT CAUSED FLC TO BECOME DISORIENTED ON THEIR TXWY POS. NIGHT; REFLECTION OF ARPT LIGHTS ON WET PAVEMENT CONTRIBUTED. FLC STOPPED ACFT AND WERE TOWED INTO GATE WITHOUT ANY DAMAGE.
Narrative
AT NIGHT; OCT/WED/96; WE LANDED ON RWY 14R AT ORD; JOINED TXWY B AND WERE CLRED TO TAXI TO OUR GATE. RAIN HAD ENDED JUST BEFORE OUR ARR AND ALL TXWYS AND RAMPS WERE WET. AS WE APCHED TXWY A17 I LOOKED DOWN TO SWITCH TO ACR X RAMP FREQ TO REQUEST CLRNC INTO THE ALLEY FOR GATE X. AS I CALLED; I LOOKED AHEAD TO SEE IF THE ALLEY WAS CLR. SATISFIED THAT THE ALLEY WAS CLR; AND HAVING RECEIVED CLRNC FROM ACR X TO ENTER THE ALLEY AND PROCEED TO THE GATE; I DIRECTED MY ATTN OUTSIDE THE ACFT AND IMMEDIATELY REALIZED SOMETHING WAS WRONG. THE CAPT WAS ALREADY BRAKING AS I TOLD HIM TO STOP; AND ONCE THE BRAKE WAS SET WE REALIZED WE COULD NOT PROCEED. BLUE TXWY EDGE LIGHTS WERE CLOSE ABOARD ON BOTH SIDES. JUST UNDER THE R SIDE OF THE NOSE I COULD SEE THE BACK SIDE OF WHAT I LATER DETERMINED WAS THE A18 SIGN FOR TFC SBOUND ON TXWY B. FURTHER R I COULDN'T MAKE OUT MUCH IN THE GLARE FROM THE INTL TERMINAL'S EXTERNAL ILLUMINATION REFLECTING OFF THE WET TXWY AND RAMP AREA TO OUR R. IN THE DISTANCE AHEAD I COULD SEE SEVERAL GREEN TXWY CTRLINE LIGHTS NEAR TXWY A21 AND TXWY B. THAT'S WHEN I REALIZED THE TXWY B CTRLINE LIGHTS NEAR US WERE NOT ILLUMINATED; AND DETERMINED WE WERE SOMEWHERE WITHIN THE NO TAXI AREA BOUNDED BY TXWYS A; B; A18; AND A19. WE COMMUNICATED OUR PREDICAMENT TO GND CTL; AND FOUND THEY WERE NOT AWARE OF THE TXWY B CTRLINE LIGHT OUTAGE. ACR Y OPS DISPATCHED A TOW TRACTOR; WING WALKERS; AND WHEEL WALKERS; AND WE WERE TOWED TO OUR GATE. ONE OF THE ACR Y MECHS WHO HELPED TOW US IN CAME UP INTO THE JETWAY TO INFORM US THAT THERE HAD BEEN NO DAMAGE TO ANY GND EQUIP; LIGHTS; OR SIGNS; AND NO DAMAGE TO THE ACFT. I BELIEVE THIS TXWY EXCURSION WOULD NOT HAVE OCCURRED IF: 1) THE TXWY B CTRLINE LIGHTS HAD BEEN ILLUMINATED; OR 2) THE TXWY B CTRLINE LIGHTS HAD BEEN LISTED AS OTS ON THE ATIS; OR 3) THE RAMPS AND TXWYS HAD BEEN DRY; WHICH WOULD HAVE ELIMINATED THE GLARE FROM THE INTL TERMINAL'S EXTERIOR LIGHTING; THEREBY GIVING US A BETTER CHANCE TO SEE THE REFLECTORS ON THE EASTERN EDGE OF TXWY B IN THAT LOCATION. SUPPLEMENTAL INFO FROM ACN 350606: AS WE TAXIED TOWARDS OUR CONCOURSE ON TXWY B I NOTICED EXTREME LIGHT GLARE OFF THE GND FROM THE INTL TERMINAL. WE WERE TAXIING SLOWLY AS WE APPROACHED THE SE CORNER OF THE DOMESTIC RAMP AREA WHERE TXWY B STARTS CURVING N. I LOST ALL REF TO CTRLINE AND WAS STILL SEARCHING FOR VISUAL CUES AS I STOPPED THE ACFT.
More incidents for this aircraft family →
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.