1996-12 · NASA ASRS report 355804
ATCT TWR CTLR SAYS HE WAS UNABLE TO TAXI A LIFEGUARD ACFT OUT TO THE RWY FROM THE GA RAMP DUE TO A B727 PARKED ON THE RAMP AND BLOCKING 3 TXWYS. THE ONLY TAXI RTE AVAILABLE WAS NOT OPEN FOR THE LIFEGUARD ACFT DUE TO AN ACFT ON APCH TO THE RWY THE LIFEGUARD ACFT WOULD HAVE TO TAXI ON. RPTR SAYS ARPT AUTH KNOWS OF THE PROB; BUT HAS DONE NOTHING TO REMEDY THE SIT. RPTR DENIED THE LIFEGUARD HIS PRIORITY FOR 5 MINS UNTIL THE ACFT ON APCH LANDED.
THIS PROB AROSE BY A LOCAL OPERATOR PARKING A B727 SO THAT IT BLOCKS A TXWY FROM THE GA TO OTHER TXWYS (3). IT REQUIRES THAT ALL ACFT TO OR FROM THE GA APRON MUST ENTER AND EXIT VIA AN ACTIVE RWY (RWY 24). THE ACFT PARKS W OF A DESIGNATED GATE. CONTRIBUTING FACTORS: 2 TXWYS THAT COULD BE USED ARE BLOCKED BY THE B727 PREVENTING ACFT FROM EXITING THE GA APRON AND TAXIING BY RTES THAT DO NOT CONFLICT WITH RWW 6-24. ALL TFC TO OR FROM THE GA APRON MUST USE RWY 6-24 AND TXWY J ONLY. ON THE NIGHT OF THE EVENT; A G2 WAS ON APCH TO ILS RWY 28R. THE PLT REQUESTED CIRCLE RWY 24 DUE TO STRONG SW WINDS. SUBSEQUENTLY THE LIFEGUARD FLT REQUESTED TAXI FOR DEP. HE WAS ADVISED TO HOLD POS SINCE INSUFFICIENT TIME WAS LEFT TO LEAVE THE APRON; ENTER RWY 24; AND CLR BEFORE THE G2 ARRIVED. THE PLT THEN ASKED TO TAXI VIA TXWY C AND WAS DENIED SINCE TXWY H; THE ACCESS TO TXWY C; WAS CLOSED. THE PLT THEN ASKED FOR PRIORITY AND WAS AGAIN DENIED SINCE THE IFR G2 WAS ON SHORT FINAL TO RWY 24. THE G2 LANDED; ENTERED AT THE LONE TXWY AVAILABLE; THEN THE LIFEGUARD WAS TAXIED. TOTAL DELAY -- 5 MINS. HOW IT WAS DISCOVERED: CTLR IN THE TWR POINTED OUT THE CONFLICT AND POTENTIAL PROBS. CORRECTIVE ACTIONS: NONE TAKEN. ALL RESPONSIBLE PERSONNEL ON THE ARPT KNOW ABOUT THE SIT. SOLUTION: MOVE THE ACFT TO GATE X IN FRONT OF THE TERMINAL. FREE UP TXWY H AND G; ELIMINATES TFC CONFLICTS; AND WOULD HAVE AVOIDED THIS DELAY TO A LIFEGUARD WITH A CRITICALLY ILL PERSON ON BOARD.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.
Loading the flight search…
Pick an aircraft model — Boeing 737, Airbus A320, A380, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and more — enter your origin airport, and FlightFinder shows every route that plane flies from there with live fares.
We support Boeing 737/747/757/767/777/787, the full Airbus A220/A319/A320/A321/A330/A340/A350/A380 family, Embraer E170/E175/E190/E195, Bombardier CRJ and Dash 8, and the ATR 42/72 turboprops.
Search and schedules are free. Pro ($4.99/month, $39/year, or $99 one-time lifetime) unlocks the enriched flight card — on-time stats, CO₂ per passenger, amenities, live gate & weather — plus My Trips with push alerts.
Live schedules come from Amadeus, AeroDataBox and Travelpayouts. Observed routes (which aircraft actually flew a given city pair) are crowdsourced from adsb.lol ADS-B data under the Open Database License.