2008-08 · NASA ASRS report 798618
C182 LNDG RHV DESCRIBED CONFUSED TAXI EVENT CITING LACK OF CTLR PROFESSIONALISM AND SIGNAGE ISSUES AS CONTRIBUTORY.
AFTER LNDG; I WAS HANDED OFF TO THE GND CTLR. I CONTACTED HIM AND HE DIRECTED ME TO CROSS TXWY Z AND TAXI TO THE FBO VIA THE 'INSIDE RAMP.' I HAVE NOT BEEN GIVEN THAT INSTRUCTION BEFORE; BUT AFTER XING TXWY Z; I SAW THERE WAS AMPLE RAMP AREA ADJACENT TO THE TXWY FOR ME TO MANEUVER WHILE REMAINING ON THE R SIDE OF THE DASHED DOUBLE YELLOW LINES DELINEATING THE RAMP AREA. I TURNED L AND TAXIED; IN THE RAMP AREA; TOWARDS TXWY E. AS I APCHED TXWY E; I SAW AN AIRPLANE COMING THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION ON TXWY Z. I DID NOT THINK MUCH OF THIS; AS I REMAINED ENTIRELY IN THE RAMP AREA AND DID NOT AFFECT THE OTHER AIRPLANE. FURTHER; I COMPLETED MOST OF MY FLT TRAINING AT AN ARPT WHERE IT WAS COMMON TO PASS OPPOSITE TFC IN CLOSE PROX WHILE ON THE SAME TXWY. AS I SLOWED TO THE SPD OF A SLOW WALK TO PASS; THE OTHER ACFT CALLED GND AND INQUIRED BOUT MY POS. GND ADVISED I DID NOT HAVE PERMISSION TO BE ON TXWY Z; TO WHICH I REPLIED I WAS NOT ON TXWY Z. THE OTHER ACFT CONFIRMED I WAS WITHIN THE RAMP AREA. THE CTLR FAILED TO PROVIDE ANY DIRECTION AND SAID THAT HE DID NOT HAVE A VIEW OF OUR LOCATION AT NIGHT. (THERE IS NO EVIDENCE OF A NON VISIBLE AREA MARKED ON THE GND OR IN NOTAMS.) AFTER ABOUT 30 SECONDS OF SILENCE; THE OTHER ACFT OFFERED TO DO A 180 DEG TURN AND TAXI ON THE INSIDE RAMP. WHEN I WATCHED THE OTHER ACFT MANEUVER; I BECAME AWARE OF THE SECTION OF RAMP WHICH WAS BEING REFERRED TO AS THE 'INSIDE RAMP.' I STILL DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY THE OTHER ACFT DIDN'T SIMPLY CONTINUE ON TXWY Z; SINCE HE AGREED I WAS CLR; BUT THE 180 DEG TURN WAS HIS PREROGATIVE. AFTER ANOTHER SILENCE OF ABOUT 30 SECONDS; I QUERIED THE CTLR WITH MY CALL SIGN. HE ACTED AS IF HE WAS NOT INVOLVED IN THE SITUATION; WHICH IS WHEN I SPECIFICALLY ASKED HOW I MAY PROCEED TO THE FBO. HE ADVISED I WAS 'ON MY OWN' OR SOMETHING SIMILAR; AND THAT I WAS STILL NOT AUTH TO USE TXWY Z. (THOUGH THERE WAS NO OTHER TFC WHICH WOULD HAVE PREVENTED ME FROM USING TXWY Z.) IN THE END; I CONTINUED TO TAXI WITHIN THE RAMP AREA TO MY DEST. I NOW REALIZE THAT I DID NOT TAXI VIA THE INTENDED RTE; THOUGH AT THE TIME I HAD NO REASON TO BELIEVE I WAS INCORRECT. I BELIEVED THE INSTRUCTION TO BE 'TO TAXI WITHIN THE RAMP AREA; TO PARKING.' AT ALL TIMES I WAS CLR OF TXWY Z AS DIRECTED (AFTER XING IT; OF COURSE). I WAS WORKING UNDER AN ASSUMPTION THAT THE GND CTLR WAS ABLE TO MONITOR MY PROGRESS AND WOULD HAVE CONTACTED ME IF I WAS IN THE WRONG AREA. I FEEL I PROPERLY BRIEFED THE FLT; YET FOUND NO INDICATION THAT A PORTION OF A MAIN TXWY WAS A NON VISIBLE AREA. MY GREATEST CONCERN IS WITH THE GND CTLR'S BEHAVIOR. UNFORTUNATELY; THIS IS NOT THE FIRST TIME I'VE WORKED WITH A REID HILLVIEW CTLR WHO WAS DISCOURTEOUS AND UNHELPFUL. THAT THE CTLR FAILED TO PROVIDE ANY DIRECTION AND DISREGARDED THE PERCEIVED CONFLICT IS EMBARRASSING. WE ALL KNOW THAT PLTS AND CTLRS MUST WORK TOGETHER AS A TEAM AND THE CONDESCENDING AND HOSTILE ATTITUDE EXHIBITED TONIGHT CREATES AN UNCOMFORTABLE AND UNPRODUCTIVE WORKING ENVIRONMENT. IN THE WORSE CASE; THIS AND SIMILAR ATTITUDES MAY LEAD TO COMPROMISED SAFETY. IN A SITUATION SIMILAR TO THIS ONE; I HOPE THE CTLR WOULD TAKE THE TIME TO EVALUATE THE SITUATION AND HELP PROVIDE A RESOLUTION. IF THERE IS BLAME TO BE PLACED; THAT CAN BE DONE AFTER THE FACT AS NECESSARY; BUT I AM VERY CONCERNED THAT THIS CTLR WAS RUDE AND DISCOURTEOUS WHILE DEALING WITH A SITUATION IN AN ACTIVE ARPT ENVIRONMENT. REID HILLVIEW CTLRS SHOULD RECEIVE TRAINING IN CONDUCTING THEMSELVES IN A COURTEOUS; PROFESSIONAL; AND HELPFUL MANNER (AS MOST CTLRS MANAGE TO DO). FURTHER; THE ATC NON VISIBLE AREA OF RHV ARPT SHOULD BE IDENTED IN NOTAMS AND WITH GND SIGNAGE.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.
Loading the flight search…
Pick an aircraft model — Boeing 737, Airbus A320, A380, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and more — enter your origin airport, and FlightFinder shows every route that plane flies from there with live fares.
We support Boeing 737/747/757/767/777/787, the full Airbus A220/A319/A320/A321/A330/A340/A350/A380 family, Embraer E170/E175/E190/E195, Bombardier CRJ and Dash 8, and the ATR 42/72 turboprops.
Search and schedules are free. Pro ($4.99/month, $39/year, or $99 one-time lifetime) unlocks the enriched flight card — on-time stats, CO₂ per passenger, amenities, live gate & weather — plus My Trips with push alerts.
Live schedules come from Amadeus, AeroDataBox and Travelpayouts. Observed routes (which aircraft actually flew a given city pair) are crowdsourced from adsb.lol ADS-B data under the Open Database License.