FLC OF B727 ON TKOF ROLL AT ORD NOTES RWY INCURSION TOO LATE FOR SAFE HIGH SPD ABORT.

Date: 1999-09 · Aircraft: B727 Undifferentiated or Other Model · Phase: takeoff

Anomalies: conflict-ground-conflict|critical|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-clearance|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-far|ground-incursion-runway

Synopsis

FLC OF B727 ON TKOF ROLL AT ORD NOTES RWY INCURSION TOO LATE FOR SAFE HIGH SPD ABORT.

Narrative

THE TKOF WAS NIGHT VFR. WE HAD BEEN CLRED INTO POS AND HOLD ON RWY 9L (ORD) WHILE WE WERE WAITING FOR TKOF CLRNC. THE CAPT NOTICED FLASHING RED LIGHTS AT AN UNSPECIFIC DISTANCE DOWN THE RWY. THERE WAS CONSTRUCTION IN THE VICINITY OF THE RWY 32R PAD SO WE FIGURED IT WAS PART OF THE CONSTRUCTION LIGHTS SINCE THE RED LIGHTS WERE OFF THE R SIDE OF THE RWY. WHILE ON TKOF ROLL; WE KEPT WATCHING THE AREA OF THE LIGHTS AND IT BEGAN TO TAKE A SHAPE. WE WERE TRYING TO FOCUS ON WHAT THE SHAPE WAS; BUT SINCE IT HAD NO OTHER LIGHTS ON AND WAS DARK IN COLOR; IT DIDN'T REFLECT MUCH LIGHT AND JUST LOOKED LIKE A GRAY BLOB. FINALLY WE RECOGNIZED IT AS AN ACFT AND THAT IT HAD ITS NOSE SECTION STICKING INTO THE RWY. IT WAS HARD TO JUDGE OUR DISTANCE FROM THE ACFT; BUT BY THE TIME WE REALIZED WHAT IT WAS; IT WAS TOO LATE TO STOP AND AVOID IT. WE WERE LIGHT; SO WE STARTED TO ROTATE EARLY. AS WE ROTATED; THE OTHER ACFT WHICH HAD BEEN STATIONARY TILL THIS POINT STARTED TO TAXI ACROSS THE RWY IN FRONT OF US. AS WE CLRED THE OTHER ACFT IT WAS DIRECTLY BELOW US. TWR APPEARED TO BE UNAWARE OF THE OTHER ACFT TILL AFTER WE HAD CLRED THE ARPT BOUNDARY. REST OF TRIP WAS NORMAL; AND THE PAX APPEARED TO BE UNAWARE OF WHAT HAD HAPPENED. TO ME IT SEEMED THE BIGGEST FACTOR (AFTER LACK OF COM BTWN GND CTL AND THE OTHER ACFT) WAS THE LACK OF LIGHTING ON THE OTHER ACFT AND THE PAINT COLOR. IT DIDN'T HAVE ANY CABIN LIGHTS OR RUNNING LIGHTS THAT WE COULD SEE; AND THE COLOR OF THE ACFT SEEMED TO ABSORB OUR LNDG LIGHTS INSTEAD OF REFLECTING ANY LIGHT BACK AT US; SO IT MEANT WE HAD TO GET CLOSER TO PICK OUT A SHAPE.

More incidents for this aircraft family →

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