B737 FLC ACCUSED OF TAXI DELAY EVEN THOUGH GND CTLR ADVISED OF A CABIN SIT.

Date: 2000-11 · Aircraft: B737-200 · Phase: taxi

Anomalies: deviation-discrepancy-procedural-published-material-policy|flight-deck-cabin-aircraft-event-passenger-misconduct|ground-event-encounter-other-unknown

Synopsis

B737 FLC ACCUSED OF TAXI DELAY EVEN THOUGH GND CTLR ADVISED OF A CABIN SIT.

Narrative

AT APPROX XA00; MYSELF AND THE CAPT FINISHED OUR PREFLT. AFTER A BRIEF PUSHBACK AND AFTER BOTH ENGS WERE STARTED AND CHKLISTS COMPLETED; I CALLED TPA GND FOR TAXI INSTRUCTIONS. AFTER A BRIEF PAUSE; A GND CTLR ASKED US TO 'CONFIRM YOUR SQUAWK CODE.' I REPLIED WITH THE APPROPRIATE CODE. AT THIS POINT; ANOTHER PERSON CAME ON AND SAID 'ACR X; I DIDN'T ASK YOU FOR YOUR SQUAWK CODE; I WANT TO KNOW IF YOU'RE READY TO TAXI' IN AN ANGRY MANNER. I IMMEDIATELY SAID YES. AT THIS POINT; SEVERAL XMISSIONS WERE BLOCKED AND ANOTHER COMPANY MD88 WAS CLRED TO TAXI THAT HAD PUSHED BACK RIGHT BESIDE US. WE WERE FINALLY GIVEN CLRNC TO FOLLOW COMPANY TO RWY 18R. AS WE TAXIED; A FEW ACFT PASSED US ON TXWY AND WE WERE TOLD OUR SEQUENCE WAS TO FOLLOW A NAVY F18 HORNET. WE WERE GETTING EXCESSIVE AMOUNTS OF JETBLAST FROM THE F18 ENGS; SO THE CAPT ADDED SOME DISTANCE BEHIND THE F18 -- NO MORE THAN STANDARD IN THIS SIT. AT THIS POINT; THE GND CTLR SAID TAXI. RIGHT AS THIS XMISSION OCCURRED; OUR ONBOARD LEADER (LEAD FLT ATTENDANT) CAME UP TO THE COCKPIT AND STATED THAT A WOMAN HAD LEFT HER SEAT AND GONE TO THE BATHROOM; STATING IT WAS AN EMER. HOWEVER; SHE DID NOT ASK FOR ANY ASSISTANCE AND SAID SHE WOULD BE DONE QUICKLY. AT THIS POINT; GND ASKED IF WE WERE GOING TO TAXI. I REPLIED THAT WE HAD A PAX UP IN THE BACK OF THE ACFT AND THAT WE WOULD HAVE TO HOLD OUR POS FOR A FEW MOMENTS. GND CAME ON AND SAID ROGER. I FOUND THIS STRANGE SINCE 'WE' HAD ASKED FOR THE SHORT PAUSE. A FEW SECONDS LATER; GND CAME ON AGAIN AND ASKED IF WE WERE GOING TO TAXI. AT THIS POINT; THE CAPT STATED THAT WE HAD A PAX UP IN THE CABIN AND THAT WE WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO MOVE FOR A FEW MOMENTS; TO WHICH GND REPLIED; 'YOU WILL HAVE TO DO BETTER THAN THAT; TAXI DOWN AND HOLD SHORT OF THE RWY AND CONTACT TWR.' AT THIS POINT; THE LEAD FLT ATTENDANT CAME UP AND TOLD US THAT THE CABIN WAS SECURE. WE CALLED GND AND ASKED FOR CLRNC TO CONTINUE. AT THIS POINT HE SAID 'WRITE THIS NUMBER DOWN AND CALL WHEN YOU LAND.' THE TOTAL DURATION OF THE TAXI FROM BLOCK-OUT TO GEAR UP WAS 23 MINS. THE INCIDENT WITH THE PAX COULD NOT HAVE LASTED MORE THAN 2 MINS AND THE WHOLE TIME WE WERE TALKING TO GND SEVERAL ACFT ARRIVED AND DEPARTED RWY 18R. ALSO; THE F18 CONTRIBUTED TO THE PROB; IN THAT THE JETBLAST WAS ABNORMALLY HIGH REQUIRING A LONGER TAXI SPACE. THIS SPACE WAS MISINTERPRET BY GND AS FAILURE TO TAXI. AFTER GETTING TO JFK; THE CAPT CALLED THE NUMBER GIVEN AND THEY SAID THAT WE HAD CAUSED THE DELAY TO 5 ACFT. THIS SIMPLY WAS NOT TRUE. THE TIME BTWN US AND THE LAST ACFT (THE F18) WAS NOT MORE THAN 2 MINS. A SMALL AMOUNT OF TIME CONSIDERING THE SAFETY OF THE PAX WAS AT STAKE. ALSO; AFTER TWR CLRED US FOR TKOF; HE ALSO CLRED ANOTHER ACFT FOR TKOF AS SOON AS WE HAD TAXIED ONTO RWY 18R. I HAVE SEVERAL WITNESSES TO WHAT TRANSPIRED AND AGREED THE GND CTLR HAD ACKNOWLEDGED THE WRONG ACFT WHEN WE CALLED FOR THE SHORT PAUSE. A FEW CONTRIBUTING FACTORS WERE THE FACT THAT THE RAMP AREA BECAME VERY CONGESTED AT PUSHBACK TIME. POSSIBLY A RAMP CTLR WOULD HELP EXPEDITED PUSHBACK AND TAXI TIMES. I ALSO BELIEVE THERE WAS TRAINING GOING ON IN THE GND FACILITY AND SOME MISCOM BTWN GND CTLRS AS TO WHICH ACFT REQUESTED THE PAUSE.

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