AN MD11 CARGO FLC USES THE WRONG TXWY DURING A LOW VISIBILITY NIGHT OP TAXI OUT AT LAX; CA.
Synopsis
AN MD11 CARGO FLC USES THE WRONG TXWY DURING A LOW VISIBILITY NIGHT OP TAXI OUT AT LAX; CA.
Narrative
GOOD PREFLT PLANNING. GOOD BRIEF. I WAS FLYING WITH A CAPT I KNOW AND LIKE AND RESPECT A LOT. WHEN PUSHING BACK IN NIGHT/LOW VISIBILITY; WE WERE ISSUED A CLRNC TO HOLD SHORT RWY 25L AT TXWY G; TO WATCH FOR ANOTHER CARRIER PUSHING AT SAME TIME. CAPT BRIEFED OUR NORMAL (HABIT) RTE OF TAXI AND WE SAW WHAT WE BELIEVED WAS OUR TFC TO FOLLOW AND CAPT ACTED LIKE HE KNEW RTE; BUT OUR NORMAL TAXI RTE WAS THE WRONG WAY; NOT OUR CLRED RTE. I FAILED TO BACK HIM UP BECAUSE WHILE LOOKING AT PAGE 10-9; I DID NOT VERIFY THAT RTE CLRED. WE TURNED ONTO (WRONG) TXWY AND GND CTL NOTICED THAT RIGHT AWAY. WE HAD GONE OUR NORMAL/EXPECTED RTE; BUT NOT OUR CLRED RTE. EXPECTATIONS BIAS HUMAN FACTORS. XCOCKPIT AUTH BIAS HUMAN FACTORS. AFTER INCIDENT; CAPT DID A GOOD JOB OF DEBRIEFING AND NOT ALLOWING SUBSEQUENT FAILURE MODE DUE TO FIXATION. WE HAD POS UNTIL WE COULD CROSS TO OUR NEWLY CLRED RTE. I BELIEVE PLTS SHOULD QUESTION EVERY CLRNC. WHAT IS NEEDED IS GND SURVEILLANCE WITH PRECISION GND RADAR; PLUS A LIGHTED TRACKING SYS LIKE I'VE SEEN IN AN AVIATION MAGAZINE.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.