A PA28 PLT; TAXING FOR TKOF AT KERN VALLEY (LO5) TAXIED PAST THE HOLD SHORT LINE TO DO HIS RUN-UP.

Date: 2002-08 · Aircraft: PA-28 Cherokee/Archer/Dakota/Pillan/Warrior · Phase: taxi

Anomalies: deviation-discrepancy-procedural-clearance|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-far|ground-incursion-runway|other-temporary-twr-for-fire-fighting-oper

Synopsis

A PA28 PLT; TAXING FOR TKOF AT KERN VALLEY (LO5) TAXIED PAST THE HOLD SHORT LINE TO DO HIS RUN-UP.

Narrative

THE KERN VALLEY ARPT IS NORMALLY UNCTLED; BUT ON THIS DAY; FIREFIGHTERS HAD SET UP A CTL TWR TO AID ON COORD OF FIREFIGHTING HELI ARRS AND DEPS. AFTER STARTING THE ENG FOR MY DEP; I CALLED THE TWR ON 119.775. I WAS TOLD TO WAIT ON THE RAMP TO ALLOW HELI TFC TO BE HANDLED. THE TWR DIDN'T INDICATE WHETHER THERE WAS ANOTHER FREQ I SHOULD BE USING. I SUSPECT THAT DUE TO THE LOW TFC VOLUME AND THE TEMPORARY NATURE OF THE TWR; THEY WERE USING JUST THE 1 TEMPORARY FREQ. MEANWHILE; A C172SP WAS REFUELING AT THE FUEL ISLAND. AFTER SOME TIME; I ASKED THE TWR WHEN ACFT X MIGHT EXPECT A TAXI CLRNC. THEY TOLD ME I COULD GO AHEAD AND START TAXIING; BUT WITHOUT MAKING ANY CALLS ON THE TWR FREQ; THE C172SP CUT ME OFF AND ENTERED THE TXWY FIRST. A LITTLE FARTHER ON; IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BIKE PATH-SIZED TXWY; THE SP STOPPED TO TALK TO SOME FIREMEN STATIONED AT A TRUCK ON THE SIDE OF THE TXWY AFTER ABOUT 1 1/2 MINS; I ASKED TWR IF THEY WERE EVEN TALKING TO THE SP; AND GOT NO RESPONSE. AFTER THE SP FINALLY GOT MOVING AGAIN; HE TOOK THE L BRANCH OF A FORK IN THE TXWY. I ASKED THE TWR WHICH WAY I SHOULD GO; AND HE TOLD ME TO TAKE THE R BRANCH WHICH WOULD GO RIGHT TO THE END OF RWY 17. THE TXWY BEING MIGHTY NARROW; I ASKED THE TWR WHERE I SHOULD DO MY RUNUP. HE TOLD ME THERE WAS AN AREA AT THE END OF THE RWY. I STILL HADN'T HEARD A SINGLE XMISSION FROM THE SP. REACHING THE END OF THE TXWY; I SAW A NICE WIDE AREA OFF TO THE SIDE OF THE MAIN WIDTH OF THE RWY; EVIDENTLY THE RUNUP AREA. SO I TAXIED ONTO IT; NOTICING THAT THIS PUT ME ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE HOLDING BARS; BUT THERE SEEMED TO BE PLENTY OF SPACE. BEFORE I HAD TIME TO THINK ABOUT WHAT TO DO; THE TWR XMITTED 'ACFT X; ARE YOU ON FREQ?' I ANSWERED 'AFFIRMATIVE.' THE TWR ASKED 'WHAT IS YOUR POS?' I REPLIED 'IN THE WIDE AREA ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE BARS.' THE TWR CHASTISED ME; 'WELL; YOU'RE ON THE RWY! GET OFF THE RWY!' SO I SCOOTED OVER BACK ONTO THE NARROW TXWY. THERE I DID MY RUN-UP. THE SP DID HIS ON THE RWY; AND FINALLY TOOK OFF. I STILL HAD HEARD NOT A SINGLE XMISSION FROM THE SP. FINALLY; I WAS CLRED FOR TKOF. MY SUSPICION IS THAT THE SP WAS SOME SORT OF SPOTTER PLANE FOR THE FIREFIGHTING EFFORT; AND HAD; IN FACT; BEEN TALKING TO THE TWR ON SOME OTHER FREQ; PERHAPS USING FIREFIGHTER RADIO EQUIP RATHER THAN AVIATION EQUIP. I KNEW THAT XING THE HOLDING BARS WAS A BAD IDEA AS SOON AS I DID IT. IN THE FUTURE; I WILL NEVER AGAIN CROSS HOLDING BARS WITHOUT EXPLICIT TWR CLRNC; BUT I FEEL THAT THE NONSTANDARD ARRANGEMENT THE TWR HAD IN CTLING THE SP GREATLY ADDED TO THE CONFUSION OF THE SIT.

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