B737 CREW WAS NOT ABLE TO CLR THE RWY AT LGA AND ACFT BEHIND THEM WAS REQUIRED TO GAR.

Date: 2000-11 · Aircraft: B737-200

Anomalies: other-freq-congestion-tfc-overload

Synopsis

B737 CREW WAS NOT ABLE TO CLR THE RWY AT LGA AND ACFT BEHIND THEM WAS REQUIRED TO GAR.

Narrative

LNDG RWY 22 LGA. ASKED TO CLR ON REVERSE HIGH-SPEED 'CY.' CLRED THE RWY ON CY THEN STOPPED TO CONTACT GND. GND FREQ WAS BUSY UNABLE TO CONTACT GND. VISUALLY SAW ACFT ON APCH BEHIND US EXECUTE A GAR. THEN GND CTLR WAS CONTACTED; WE WERE TOLD TO CONTACT TOWER BY PHONE; THEN ISSUED TAXI INSTRUCTIONS TO THE GATE. WHAT CAUSED THE PROB: THE ADDITIONAL 300 LNDG SLOTS OF REGIONAL ACFT HAS CAUSED MAJOR DELAYS. A WASTE OF TIME/FUEL; AND SAFETY COMPROMISED. GND CTL TOO BUSY CTLING OTHER ACFT INSTEAD OF ACFT CLRING RWYS REQUESTING TAXI INSTRUCTIONS. TO PREVENT RECURRENCE: 1) DUAL GND CTL: ONE FOR DEP; ONE FOR ARRIVALS. 2) REDUCE THE 300 LNDG SLOTS OF REGIONAL ACFT. 3) INSTALL LIGHTING SYS TO PREVENT RWY/TXWY INCURSIONS. 4) TAXI ON TXWY WHEN GND CTL IS BUSY TALKING TO OTHER ACFT. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING INFO: RPTR STATES THAT THE FAA AWARDED 300 ADDITIONAL SLOTS TO REGIONAL ACRS. THIS HAS PRODUCED TOTAL GRIDLOCK; TO THE POINT THAT SAFE OP IS AFFECTED. RADIO FREQUENCIES ARE SO CONGESTED THAT MEANINGFUL COM IS NOT POSSIBLE. LGA HAS A LOCAL PROC THAT PREVENTS ACFT FROM CHANGING TO AND FROM GND CTL AND TWR CTL WITHOUT BEING DIRECTED TO. IN THIS CASE THE TWR NEVER TOLD THE INCIDENT ACFT TO CHANGE TO GND CTL. AT THE TIME; THE TWR WAS WORKING DEPS. THE ACFT MOVED AS FAR AS IT COULD OFF THE RWY. HALF THE ACFT WAS STILL OVER THE HOLD LINE. THE ACFT COULD MOVE NO FURTHER BECAUSE OF TXWY CONGESTION. BECAUSE THEY WERE PARTLY OVER THE HOLD LINE THE TWR SENT THE LNDG ACFT AROUND. CAPT RECOMMENDS THAT THE FAA RESCIND THE RECENTLY PERMITTED ADDITIONAL FREQS OF OP. THE ARPT WAS OPERATING AT ITS SAFE LIMIT OF OP ALREADY.

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