MD82 RWY INCURSION PHX.

Narrative

AFTER RECEIVING PHX ATIS INFO; THE FO AND MYSELF PLANNED A TAXI TO AND TKOF FROM RWY 8R FROM THE W SIDE OF TERMINAL. OUR TAXI INSTRUCTIONS WERE TO RWY 26R VIA TXWYS E AND S; HOLD SHORT OF TXWY C. HAVING THE ARPT DIAGRAM IN FRONT OF ME ON THE CLIPBOARD; I PLANNED A NEW TAXI RTE TO RWY 26R. AFTER GETTING ON THE TAXI LINE FROM THE RAMP AREA TO TXWYS D; E; AND E4; I LOOKED E TOWARD THE ISLAND SEPARATING TXWY D FROM TXWY E AT TXWY E5 TO TXWY E6 AND SAW A TXWY SIGN DESIGNATING TXWY E. RATHER THAN TURN TOWARD TXWY E5; I STAYED ON THE TAXI LINE. I NOTICED A TURN LINE TOWARD TXWY D; BUT NOT TXWY E. FOR SOME REASON I WAS THINKING ABOUT AN ISLAND THAT I WAS TO TAXI AROUND; BUT THERE IS NO ISLAND BTWN TXWY D AND TXWY E IN THE VICINITY OF TXWY E4 AND TXWY E5. THERE IS; HOWEVER; AN ISLAND BTWN RWY 26L AND TXWY E. SINCE I WAS THINKING ABOUT GOING AROUND AN ISLAND IN THE VICINITY OF TXWY E AND TXWY E4; I STARTED TO TAXI TOWARD RWY 26L AT TXWY E4. THE FO WAS HEADS DOWN; CALCULATING TKOF DATA FOR RWY 26R. JUST AS I SAW THE HOLD SHORT LINE AT RWY 26L AND TXWY E4 I STARTED TO SLOW DOWN AND STOP; REALIZING THAT SOMETHING WAS NOT RIGHT. AS I STARTED TO SLOW DOWN; I LOOKED UP AND SAW ACR Y LNDG ON RWY 26L AND STARTED TO BRAKE HARDER. AT THAT INSTANT; GND CTL ALSO SAID; 'ACR X STOP.' I STOPPED THE ACFT WITH THE NOSEWHEEL JUST PAST THE HOLD SHORT LINE AT RWY 26L AND TXWY E4. AFTER ACR Y CLRED THE RWY; I WAS CLRED TO CROSS RWY 26L AT TXWY E4; TURN L ON TXWY F; HOLD SHORT OF TXWY F6. WE THEN RECEIVED A CLRNC TO CROSS RWY 26L AND TXWY F6 TO JOIN TXWY S. WE THEN RECEIVED FURTHER CLRNC TO RWY 26R AND PERFORMED THE TKOF. THE ENTIRE FLT; WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE TAXI OUT TO THE RWY; WAS UNEVENTFUL. UPON ARR TO STL; I CALLED THE PHX TWR SUPVR AND ANOTHER CTLR AS REQUESTED BY PHX GND CTL AND WE DISCUSSED THE INCIDENT AND PAST INCIDENTS. THE FOLLOWING POINTS WERE DISCUSSED: 1) NO TURN ON LINES FOR SOME TXWYS BUT FOR OTHERS. 2) STOP BAR OR WIG WAG LIGHTS ON SOME RWY XINGS; BUT NOT OTHERS. 3) TXWY E6 WAS CLOSED BECAUSE OF RWY INCURSIONS; BUT NOT OTHERS; WHY? 4) COLORS REVERSED ON SOME TXWY SIGNS. YELLOW ON BLACK OR BLACK ON YELLOW WHERE IT IS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE. 5) ISLANDS SEPARATING TXWY E AND TXWY D IN SOME PLACES BUT NOT OTHERS. 6) MY ACFT WAS ONE OF THE ACFT RPTED TO BE INVOLVED IN A RWY INCURSION AT PHX DURING 1999 THROUGH MAY/XA/99. RWY INCURSIONS ARE BELIEVED TO BE A FREQUENT PROB AT PHX AND THERE IS NO APPARENT FIX FOR THE PROB. A MEETING WAS HELD ON MAR/XA/99 BTWN CTLRS; UNION REPRESENTATIVES; AND FAA TO DISCUSS RWY INCURSIONS AND TXWY MARKINGS. ONE STATEMENT MADE WAS THAT CHANGES WERE NOT MADE BECAUSE IT WAS A WASTE OF PAINT. MY RECOMMENDATIONS ARE: TXWY TURN LINES WHERE ALL TXWYS MERGE; WIG WAG LIGHTS AT ALL RWY XING POINTS TO DESIGNATE ACTIVE RWYS; IMPROVED TXWY LIGHTING; HAVE ALL TXWY DESIGNATION SIGNS AND PAINTED TXWY MARKINGS CHANGED TO THE PROPER COLOR; AND INSTALL ISLANDS SEPARATING PARALLEL TXWYS. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING INFO: RPTR STATES THAT A RWY INCURSION RPT WAS INDEED FILED BY PHX ATC PERSONNEL. HE STATES THAT THIS INCURSION WAS THE MAIN TOPIC AT A MEETING WITH ATC CTLRS UNION; FAA; AND ARPT PERSONNEL HELD MAR/99. THE RPTR CITES PDX AS BEING AN ARPT WITH PROPER PAINT MARKINGS WITH LIGHTING AND INSTRUCTIONS CLR ENOUGH TO UNDERSTAND. THE RPTR ACR HAS COME OUT WITH THE EQUIVALENT OF A COMPANY NOTAM REQUIRING FLCS TO BE 'HEADS UP' WHILE THE ACFT IS TAXIING TO THE ASSIGNED RWY AND THAT THE ACR IS WORKING WITH PHX ATC PERSONNEL TO REMEDY THE INCONSISTENT AND POOR MARKINGS; ISLANDS AND SIGNAGE AS WELL AS TAXI INSTRUCTIONS GIVEN TO FLCS. THE RPTR EMPHASIZED THAT THE ACFT WAS IN THE PROCESS OF STOPPING AT THE TIME THE CTLR INSTRUCTED HIM TO STOP THE ACFT AND THAT THE INCURSION CONSISTED OF THE NOSEWHEEL BEING SLIGHTLY PASSED THE RWY HOLD LINE.