AN EXPERIMENTAL ACFT PLT AND PAX; TAXIING FOR TKOF AT OUN ARPT; TAXIED PAST A HOLD SHORT LINE WITHOUT CLRNC.
Synopsis
AN EXPERIMENTAL ACFT PLT AND PAX; TAXIING FOR TKOF AT OUN ARPT; TAXIED PAST A HOLD SHORT LINE WITHOUT CLRNC.
Narrative
MY WIFE AND I LANDED AT NORMAN; OK; ON RWY 3 AT XA55Z FOR A FUEL STOP. ON TURNING OFF THE ACTIVE AND THE INITIAL TAXI BACK TO THE TERMINAL; THE TXWY WAS BOUNDED AND DEFINED. THE TXWY BOUNDARY ON THE E SIDE SOON STOPPED; OPENING UP TO A LARGE PAVED RAMP AREA. I TAXIED TO NEAR THE BASE OF THE TWR AND BTWN 2 ROWS OF PARKED ACFT AND TURNED IN; NEXT TO ANOTHER ACFT OVER A SET OF TIE-DOWNS. DURING THIS TAXIING AND PARKING. I REALIZED THAT THERE WERE NO YELLOW TXWY CTRLINE STRIPES ON THE TXWY OR IN THE TIE-DOWN AREA. AFTER START-UP; GND CTL CLRED US TO TAXI TO RWY 3 FOR DEP. WHILE TAXIING; MY ATTN WAS DISTR BY MY WIFE'S HAVING DIFFICULTY DIALING IN OKC'S DEP FREQ AND I WAS TRYING TO HELP. I MISTOOK THE PERPENDICULAR TXWY H1 FOR THE WAY TO GET TO THE PARALLEL TXWY. WHAT I THOUGHT I WAS LOOKING AT WAS A PARALLEL TXWY WITH THE RWY JUST BEYOND. ALL OF A SUDDEN; I REALIZED I HAD JUST CROSSED A 'HOLD SHORT' LINE AND I STOPPED THE ACFT. THE TWR TOLD ME TO HOLD WHERE I WAS WHILE A PLANE DOING TOUCH-AND-GOES WENT BY BEFORE I EXECUTED A 180 DEG TURN. THE TWR THEN ASKED ME IF I COULD TAKE AN INTXN DEP. I ASKED HOW MUCH RWY REMAINED AND LIKELY MISUNDERSTOOD HIM; THINKING HE SAID 3200 FT. I SAID THAT IT WOULD WORK AND WAS CLRED TO DEPART. ON THE INITIAL TKOF ROLL; I REALIZED THERE WAS NOT ENOUGH RWY AND ABORTED THE TKOF. THE TWR TOLD ME TO REMAIN ON HIS FREQ AND RETURN TO THE THRESHOLD END OF RWY 3. THE ENSUING TKOF WAS UNEVENTFUL; BUT NOW LOOKING BACK; I QUESTION WHETHER I MAY HAVE CLBED INTO OKC'S CLASS C AIRSPACE ON MY DEP TO THE E. NOT AS AN EXCUSE; BUT MY MIND WAS LIKELY FIXATED ON THE DUMB MOVES I HAD JUST MADE INVOLVING MISPERCEPTION; POOR JUDGEMENT AND BAD DECISIONS; THIS IN LIGHT OF THE FAA'S CONCENTRATING ATTN ON GND BASED INFRACTIONS. I'M CERTAIN THAT HAD THERE BEEN YELLOW TXWY CTRLINE STRIPING I WOULD HAVE HAD A VISUAL CLUE TO THE TXWY'S CONTINUANCE TOWARD THE THRESHOLD END OF RWY 3. I DID NOT REALIZE THE TXWY DID CONTINUE TO THE S BEYOND THE WIDE EXPANSE OF PAVING IN FRONT OF AND TO THE S OF THE TWR. A STRIPE WOULD HAVE CAUSED ME TO FOCUS ON AND REALIZE THAT. STRIPING WOULD ALSO HAVE BEEN A VALUABLE CLUE TO THE FACT THAT THE W EDGE OF THE RAMP WAS; IN FACT; A TXWY. THE SHORTCOMINGS OF MY ACTIONS ARE NOW VERY OBVIOUS -- I DO HAVE A FLT GUIDE AND WOULD HAVE BENEFITED GREATLY FROM A MORE CAREFUL AND THOROUGH STUDY OF THE ARPT LAYOUT AND IMMEDIATE VICINITY OF THE ARPT PRIOR TO TAXIING. JUST LIKE I HEARD ON MY VERY NEXT CALL TO WX BRIEF; DIAL IN ALL NEEDED FREQS AND OTHER SETTING BEFORE YOU MOVE THE ACFT FROM PARKING. DON'T ALLOW YOUR (MY) CONCENTRATION TO STRAY FROM THE PRIORITY -- TAXIING THE ACFT! SOMETHING AS SEEMINGLY INSIGNIFICANT AS THE FACT THAT I'VE BEEN FLYING A TANDEM 2 PLACE ACFT FOR YRS (ALL ALONE IN THE FRONT SEAT) AND HAVE RECENTLY STARTED FLYING THIS 2 PLACE SIDE-BY-SIDE (DISTRS NEXT TO ME); REQUIRES THAT I BE MORE RESOLUTE IN NOT LETTING MYSELF BE DISTR. EVEN THOUGH I DEVELOPED GOOD HABITS EARLY IN MY FLYING; OVER THE YRS THEY SEEM TO HAVE GOTTEN 'WATERED' DOWN. RECURRENT TRAINING IS A GOOD THING.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.