DC9 AND COMMUTER LTT HAVE BEEN DEICED AND PLANNING TO DEPART RWY 5R. DEICE FLUID WAS SPRAYED ON WINDSHIELD OF BOTH ACFT; RESTRICTING VISIBILITY IN SNOW CONDITIONS. DC9 WAS CLRED FOR TKOF AND THE COMMUTER WAS ASKED TO MAKE A 180 DEG TURN ON TXWY A TO INSURE CLR RWY 5R. MAKING THE TURN WAS VERY NEAR THE PATH OF THE DEPARTING DC9; RESULTING IN NMAC.
Synopsis
DC9 AND COMMUTER LTT HAVE BEEN DEICED AND PLANNING TO DEPART RWY 5R. DEICE FLUID WAS SPRAYED ON WINDSHIELD OF BOTH ACFT; RESTRICTING VISIBILITY IN SNOW CONDITIONS. DC9 WAS CLRED FOR TKOF AND THE COMMUTER WAS ASKED TO MAKE A 180 DEG TURN ON TXWY A TO INSURE CLR RWY 5R. MAKING THE TURN WAS VERY NEAR THE PATH OF THE DEPARTING DC9; RESULTING IN NMAC.
Narrative
WE HAD PUSHED BACK FROM THE GATE AND DEICED. THE GND DEICING CREW WERE TOLD NOT TO SPRAY THE WINDOWS (HEATED); BUT THE WINDOWS WERE SPRAYED WITH DEICE FLUID; WHICH RESULTED IN RESTR; BUT ADEQUATE; VISIBILITY TO TAXI AND TAKE OFF. WE TAXIED TO RWY 5R AND WERE CLRED FOR TKOF UPON REACHING THE END OF THE RWY. IT WAS CAPT'S LEG; AS WE STARTED THE TKOF ROLL; I CHKED THE TKOF PWR AND ENG INSTS. GOING THROUGH 100 KTS I SAW THE BEACONS OF AN AIRPLANE; BUT DUE TO FALLING SNOW AND DEICE FLUID ON THE WINDSHIELD; I WAS NOT ABLE TO DETERMINE IF THE ACFT WAS ON THE PARALLEL TXWY OR HOLDING SHORT OF THE ACTIVE RWY (ON THE R SIDE OF THE RWY). MY ATTN WAS BACK INSIDE THE COCKPIT TO CALL V1 AND ROTATE. UPON ROTATION; I SAW THE COMMUTER ACFT ON THE R SIDE OF THE RWY; HE HAD ALREADY STARTED A 180 DEG TURN ON THE RWY TO CLR THE ACTIVE RWY. BY THE TIME I SAW HIM UPON ROTATION; THERE WAS NOT ENOUGH TIME TO DO ANYTHING. IN MY APPROXIMATION; WE CLRED THE COMMUTER ACFT BY 100 FT VERTLY. I WOULD LIKE TO MAKE 2 RECOMMENDATIONS: 1) ALL INTXNS TO THE ACTIVE RWY BE MARKED BY FLASHING AMBER LIGHTS; THE TYPE THAT ARE IN USE AT SOME MAJOR ARPTS; IE; ATL. 2) AIRLINES ESTABLISH PROCS AND TRAIN THE GND CREWS NOT TO SPRAY THE HEATED WINDSHIELDS WITH DEICE FLUID. SUPPLEMENTAL INFO FROM ACN 359028: THIS OCCURRED AT NIGHT WITH 2 MI VISIBILITY AND BLOWING SNOW. THE RWY SIGNS WERE COMPLETELY OBSCURED WITH SNOW ADHERING TO THEM. I STOPPED CLR OF THE ACTIVE RWY 5R WHEN I REALIZED WE WERE HDG TOWARDS THE TXWY TURNOFF LIGHTS FOR RWY 5R. AT THIS TIME WE WERE AT A FULL STOP AND TWR ASKED IF WE COULD MAKE A 180 DEG TURN DUE TO INBOUND TFC. THE TURN WAS ACCOMPLISHED. THE TWR PERCEIVED MY ACFT AS BEING CLOSER TO RWY 5R THAN WE ACTUALLY WERE; WHILE A DC9 WAS ROLLING FOR TKOF ON RWY 5R.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.