B737-300 FLT CREW HAS A RWY INCURSION AT DCA. CTLR ISSUES AN ADVISORY AND FLT CREW EXITS RWY.

2006-03 · NASA ASRS report 690283

Date: 2006-03 · Aircraft: B737-300 · Phase: taxi

Anomalies: conflict-ground-conflict|less-severe|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-clearance|ground-incursion-runway

Synopsis

B737-300 FLT CREW HAS A RWY INCURSION AT DCA. CTLR ISSUES AN ADVISORY AND FLT CREW EXITS RWY.

Narrative

I WAS THE CAPT FLYING. UPON FIRST CONTACT WITH GND CTL AFTER LEAVING THE GATE; OUR FIRST INSTRUCTION WAS TO TAXI TO RWY 19 VIA TXWY K; HOLD SHORT OF RWY 15. HOLDING SHORT OF RWY 15; THE NEXT INSTRUCTION RECEIVED WAS TO TURN L ONTO TXWY N AND HOLD SHORT OF TXWY S. UPON ARRIVING SHORT OF TXWY S; THERE WERE A FEW OTHER ACFT WAITING AT THAT INTXN. GND CTL GAVE THE ACFT IN FRONT OF US CLRNC TO GO TO THE PAD. SINCE THIS CLRNC WAS NOT FOR US; I DID NOT LISTEN TO THE EXACT WORDING OF HIS CLRNC. HE TAXIED ACROSS RWY 15 TO THE RWY 19 RUN-UP PAD. THE NEXT INSTRUCTION FOR US WAS TO TAXI TO THE RUN-UP PAD FOR OUR WHEELS UP TIME. BEFORE TURING ONTO TXWY S; I LOOKED AROUND THE ARR AND DEP CORRIDOR FOR RWY 15 AND SAW WHAT APPEARED TO BE AN ACFT FLYING 'DOWN THE RIVER' ON THE RIVER APCH. WE TURNED ON ALL EXTERNAL LIGHTS FOR THE RWY XING. AS THE COCKPIT CROSSED THE HOLD SHORT LINE; I AGAIN CHKED FOR TFC AND NOTICED THAT AN ACFT NOW APPEARED TO BE ON A 1-2 MI FINAL FOR RWY 15. IN MY MIND I INITIALLY THOUGHT THAT THERE WAS PLENTY OF ROOM TO CROSS THE RWY; BUT IT BEGAN TO LOOK A BIT CLOSER AND I VOCALIZED MY CONCERN TO THE FO. I IMMEDIATELY STOPPED THE ACFT BUT SINCE THE COCKPIT HAD CROSSED THE HOLD SHORT LINE FOR RWY 15; I WAS IN THE PROCESS OF INSTRUCTING THE FO TO CONFIRM OUR CLRNC AND INFORM GND CTL OF OUR LOCATION PAST THE HOLD SHORT LINE. AT THE SAME TIME THE GND CTLR ASKED US 'WHERE ARE YOU GOING?' THE GND CTLR ALSO ADVISED US TO STOP; WHICH WE HAD ALREADY DONE. HE ASKED US TO MAKE A 180 DEG TURN AND TAXI CLR OF THE RWY AND THAT THE ACFT ON FINAL WAS GOING AROUND. AS I STARTED TO DO THAT; I COULD OBSERVE THE WHITE RWY EDGE STRIPE IN MY WINDSCREEN; SO I KNEW WE HAD NOT ENCROACHED ONTO THE RWY BUT WOULD HAVE TO TAXI SLIGHTLY ONTO THE RWY TO COMPLY WITH THE GND CTL CLRNC TO DO A 180 DEG TURN AND TAXI CLR. WE DID THAT AND POSITIONED THE ACFT BEHIND ANOTHER AIRPLANE THAT WAS GOING TO CROSS RWY 15 AT THAT INTXN. WHILE WE WERE ON THE TXWY/RAMP AREA NEAR THE INTXN OF N AND S; THE CTLR GAVE US ANOTHER INSTRUCTION TO DO A 180 DEG TURN AND TAXI TO THE RWY 15 RUN-UP PAD. AT THIS TIME IT BECAME CLR TOME THAT HE HAD BEEN REFERRING TO THE WIDE PAVED AREA NEAR THE DEP END OF RWY 15. AFTER SUBSEQUENT TAXI FOR TKOF AT OUR WHEELS UP TIME; THE GND CTLR GAVE US CLRNC TO TAXI TO RWY 19 VIA RWY 15 AND TXWY S. AS WE APCHED TXWY S; GND TOLD US TO PULL UP IN THE BLOCK. THIS AGAIN CAUSED US A BIT OF CONFUSION; BUT THE ONLY PLACE TO GO WAS IN THE LARGE PAVED PARKING AREA DIRECTLY AHEAD. THIS WAS THE AREA JUST SHORT OF THE RWY 19. AFTER REVIEWING THE EVENTS; I FEEL A CONTRIBUTING FACTOR TO THE CONFUSION WAS IN THE TERMINOLOGY USED TO DEVINE THE 'RUN-UP PAD' AND THE TERM 'BLOCK' IN ADDITION TO OUR UNFAMILIARITY WITH THE AREA ON THE NW SIDE OF THE ARPT. ALSO; WITH THE ORIGINAL CLRNC TO TAXI TO RWY 19 GAVE US THE MIND SET THAT OUR DEST ON THE ARPT WOULD BE RWY 19. THE AREA ON THE 10-9 ARPT DIAGRAM WE WERE REFERRING TO DID NOT LIST THE AREA 'RUN-UP PAD' OR 'BLOCK' REFERRED TO BY GND CTL. SUPPLEMENTAL INFO FROM ACN 690282: THE INITIAL TAXI CLRNC WAS TO RWY 19. AT THAT POINT I THOUGHT WE WOULD BE HOLDING IN THE RWY 19 RUN-UP PAD FOR THE WHEELS UP TIME. THAT COMBINED WITH THE RJ IN FRONT OF US GOING TO THE SAME LOCATION AS WELL REINFORCED THE MINDSET THAT WE WERE GOING TO RWY 19 ALSO. I AM NOT FAMILIAR WITH ANY OTHER RUN-UP PAD OTHER THAN THE ONES FOR RWY 1/19. UNFAMILIARITY WITH THE NW SIDE OF THE ARPT. HOLDING SHORT OF TXWY S ON TXWY N THERE WAS AN AREA OFF TO THE L WHERE A FEW RJ'S WERE HOLDING. IN MY OPINION; THIS COULD BE MISTAKEN FOR A RUN-UP PAD FOR RWY 15. NOT SPECIFYING WHICH RUN-UP PAD CAN LEAD TO CONFUSION ON WHERE YOU THINK YOU ARE GOING AND WHERE YOU SHOULD BE GOING.

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

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