GND CTLR ASSUMES POS AND APPARENTLY CASUALLY GLANCES AT DATA INDICATING A RWY CLOSURE; MISREADS RWY NUMBER. CLRS ACR TO TKOF FROM CLOSED RWY.

Date: 1998-05 · Aircraft: B747 Undifferentiated or Other Model · Phase: takeoff

Anomalies: deviation-discrepancy-procedural-published-material-policy|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-far|ground-incursion-runway

Synopsis

GND CTLR ASSUMES POS AND APPARENTLY CASUALLY GLANCES AT DATA INDICATING A RWY CLOSURE; MISREADS RWY NUMBER. CLRS ACR TO TKOF FROM CLOSED RWY.

Narrative

I ARRIVED TO WORK. THE IDS 4 DISPLAY; WHICH PRESENTS WX INFO; NOTAMS; RWYS IN USE; ETC; INDICATED RWY 22R IN USE FOR DEPS. I SIGNED ON TO THE GND CTL POS AND NOTED AT THE POS A FLT PROGRESS STRIP HOLDER WITH THE WORDS 'RWY 4R/22L CLOSED.' ACR #1 (ACFT #1) CALLED TO TAXI AND I ISSUED INSTRUCTIONS TO TAXI TO RWY 22R. WHEN THE ACFT ARRIVED AT RWY 22R; THE LCL CTLR WAS ENGAGED IN A DISCUSSION WITH ANOTHER CTLR. SINCE THE LCL CTLR WAS USING A HANDSET AT THE POS; AND HE APPEARED INVOLVED IN CONVERSATION; I ASKED IF IT WERE OK FOR ACR #1 TO TAKE OFF (TFC WAS VERY LIGHT; THERE WAS ONLY 1 OTHER ACFT -- A B767 10 MI OUT ON FINAL FOR ANOTHER RWY). THE LCL CTLR STATED ACR #1 COULD TAKE OFF AND THAT IT WAS OK FOR ME TO ISSUE TKOF CLRNC VIA THE LCL CTLR'S HANDSET. I CLRED ACR #1 FOR TKOF AT XA27. THE ACFT DEPARTED RWY 22R AND WAS CHANGED TO DEP CTL FREQ. SHORTLY THEREAFTER; IT WAS DETERMINED THAT RWY 22R HAD CLOSED 2 HRS EARLIER! THANKFULLY; THERE WERE NO PEOPLE OR VEHICLES ON THE RWY AT THE TIME ACFT #1 DEPARTED. IN FACT; ARPT MGMNT WAS APPARENTLY UNAWARE THAT AN ACFT HAD DEPARTED ON A CLOSED RWY. I LOOKED AGAIN AT THE STRIP HOLDER INDICATING THE CLOSED RWY. IT ACTUALLY SAID 'RWY 4L/22R CLOSED.' I HAD SEEN RWY 22R LISTED AS THE DEP RWY ON THE IDS 4 AND MISREAD THE RWY CLOSURE STRIP. A CTLR FROM THE PREVIOUS SHIFT HAD TAKEN A PHONE CALL FROM ARPT MGMNT 2 HRS EARLIER; CLOSING RWY 4L/22R. HE HAD POSTED THE CLOSED RWY STRIPS; BUT HAD NOT CHANGED THE IDS 4 AND THE ATIS (BOTH OF WHICH INDICATED RWY 22R IN USE FOR DEP). THE LCL CTLR WAS UNAWARE THAT RWY 4L/22R WAS CLOSED; AND THOUGHT THAT RWY 22R WAS STILL THE DEP RWY (THE CTLR WHO HAD TAKEN THE CLOSURE OVER THE PHONE HAD ALREADY LEFT THE TWR TO GO HOME).

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Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.