2000-04 · NASA ASRS report 470618
A C206 COMMERCIAL PLT'S TALE OF A RWY INCURSION MIXED WITH TFC JAMS AND FREQ CONGESTION AT VGT; NV.
FIRST TIME TO VGT. FIRST DEP FROM VGT. MORNING RUSH HR WITH GREAT NUMBER OF SIGHT-SEEING ACFT (IN EXCESS OF 9 AT RUN-UP AREA ALONE). LOW MORNING SUN; NUMEROUS ACFT BEHIND ME. CLRNC DELIVERY MAN WAS ALSO GND CTL AND MAY HAVE BEEN TWR ALL IN ONE. GND FREQ JAMMED WITH DELIVERY AND CTL. I DID NOT FEEL IT WAS PRUDENT TO ASK FOR PROGRESSIVE; I JUST TUCKED IN BEHIND THE CONGA LINE TO RWY 7. SOME ACFT WERE ALSO USING RWY 12. EVERYONE SEEMED TO BE STOPPING IN ONE PLACE TO DO RUN-UP. SO I DID TOO. ACFT WERE IN A 3/4 CIRCLE FACING INWARDS. SIGNS FOR RUN-UP AREA WERE BLOCKED; AS WERE THE SIGNS FOR THE RWY; WHICH WERE ALSO BLOCKED BY THE MOB OF ACFT. CONSTANT HIGH SPD RADIO TALK. WHEN THE ACFT IN FRONT OF ME MOVED; I FOLLOWED UNTIL I NOTICED MY NOSE PASSING OVER BLACK/YELLOW (FADED) PAINT BARS. I JAMMED ON THE BRAKES BEFORE MY BODY PASSED OVER HOLD SHORT LINES. NOTE: SUN WAS LOW AND IN MY FACE AT THIS TIME. FINALLY GOT HOLD OF GND; AND HE PROCEEDED TO READ ME THE RIOT ACT WITH A 2 PART CHORUS. I AGREED THAT I MADE A MISTAKE. HE HAD ME TAXI ACROSS RWY 7 AND PARK BTWN RWY 7 AND RWY 12 WHERE HE READ ME THE RIOT ACT AGAIN WITH 4 PART CHORUS THIS TIME. I ATTEMPTED TO; BUT GAVE UP QUICKLY ANY DEFENSE OF MY ACTION SUCH AS RADIO FREQ JAM; LARGE AMOUNT OF ACFT WHO DO THIS RUSH HR 7 DAYS A WEEK; UNFAMILIAR ARPT; LOW SUN; BLOCKED SIGNAGE; FADED HOLD SHORT PAINT. HE THEN GAVE ME A PHONE NUMBER TO CALL AND RELEASED ME TO RWY 7. AT FARMINGTON; NM; I CALLED. I GOT A VERY FRIENDLY PERSON WHO TOLD ME THAT VGT HAS THE 5TH HIGHEST RWY INCURSION INCIDENTS IN THE COUNTRY AND THAT THE LCL FSDO IS TIGHTFISTED WITH THE FUNDS TO MAKE NEEDED IMPROVEMENTS. (OPINION: HEAD GAME AT WORK; WITH ME TAKING THE RAP IN ORDER TO GET MORE FUNDING. END OF OPINION.) HOW TO AVOID OR IMPROVE THE CONDITION THAT LED ME UP TO MAKING AN ERROR: GND SHOULD HAVE; ON INITIAL CALL-UP; HAD ME TAXI TO RWY 7 VIA TXWY A2 THEREBY NOT DAISY-CHAINING WITH THE OTHER ACFT TO RWY 12 VIA TXWY A1. MORE PEOPLE SHOULD BE STAFFING THE TWR SO THE PEOPLE THERE ARE NOT SO OVERWORKED AS THIS GUY WAS. HANGARS SHOULD BE MOVED OR REMOVED AND CLR TAXI LANES CREATED INSTEAD OF THE POOR CONDITIONS THAT EXIST AT RWY 7/12 END. THIS LARGE; UNDEFINED; PAVED RUN-UP AREA NEEDS TO BE RE-THOUGHT. A NEW AND EXCLUSIVE TAXI LANE FOR THE MANY SIGHT-SEEING ACFT SHOULD BE CREATED THEREBY KEEPING THE TOURIST LIKE ME FROM DAISY-CHAINING INTO AN ERROR. A SEPARATE GND FREQ (UNPUBLISHED) SHOULD BE SET ASIDE FOR THESE COMMERCIAL SIGHTSEERS. GND CTL DID NOT AND COULD NOT WORK FOR ME WITH THE FREQ JAM AS IT NOW EXISTS. YES; I MADE A MISTAKE; BUT IT WAS WAY TOO EASY A MISTAKE TO MAKE.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.
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