RWY INCURSION AT ILG; DE; ON A MOONLESS NIGHT WITH INOP RWY SIGN LIGHTING.
Synopsis
RWY INCURSION AT ILG; DE; ON A MOONLESS NIGHT WITH INOP RWY SIGN LIGHTING.
Narrative
I LANDED ON RWY 1 AT ILG (WILMINGTON; DE) AFTER COMPLETING THE ILS RWY 1 APCH ON AN IFR FLT PLAN. WAS A CLR (VFR) NIGHT; BUT VERY DARK; NO MOON. I WAS INSTRUCTED BY TWR TO TURN OFF RWY 1 AT TXWY K AND SWITCH TO GND CTL FREQ; WHICH I DID. GND INSTRUCTED ME TO TURN R OFF TXWY K ONTO TXWY B; TAXI TO RWY 27 AND HOLD. I STARTED TO TAXI DOWN TXWY B; LOOKING FOR SIGNS FOR RWY 27-9 AND ALMOST IMMEDIATELY FOUND MYSELF XING A RWY; WHICH TURNED OUT TO BE RWY 27-9. I NOTIFIED GND CTL; HE SAID TO DO A 180 DEG TURN AND HOLD AT RWY 27; WHICH I DID. AFTER TURNING 180 DEGS; I SAW THE RWY 27-9 SIGN; BUT IT WAS NOT LIT AND VERY HARD TO SEE. THE RWY 27-9 SIGN ON THE N SIDE OF RWY 27-9 WAS ALSO UNLIT. I CALLED GND CTL AND TOLD THEM THE RWY 27-9 SIGNS WERE UNLIT. THEY SAID THEY WERE UNAWARE THE LIGHTS WERE INOP. ON REFLECTION; I SHOULD HAVE LOOKED AT MY TXWY MAP BEFORE TURNING OFF OF TXWY K. I WOULD HAVE SEEN THAT RWY 27-9 WAS VERY CLOSE AND PERHAPS COULD HAVE AVOIDED THE INCURSION. HOWEVER; IT WAS VERY DARK. WITHOUT LIGHTED SIGNS; IT WOULD BE EASY TO PASS ONTO THE RWY.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.