2009-07 · NASA ASRS report 844649
An air carrier Captain did not notice the hold bars for Runway 1L at Taxiway J at FAI resulting in a conflict with departing traffic. Runway 1L is a temporary runway due to construction and the hold bars are in a nonstandard location.
On taxi -out Tower instructed us to taxi to Runway 1L; which is a temporary runway at FAI via Juliet. No hold short was issued and we expected to taxi-back on the temporary runway. I began to taxi and noticed small flags along the ramp edge; which stopped at the taxiways. I approached Juliet which was identified by a taxiway sign and the absence of the flags. I turned the aircraft onto the taxiway and began to look for the runway hold point. I said something to the First Officer about 'where is the hold point?' and questioned if we had been cleared to back-taxi. About this time I heard tower issue a takeoff clearance to a prop commuter aircraft and the First Officer and I saw only the runway ahead and no hold line. I immediately stopped the aircraft. The First Officer made a call to tower informing him that we believed we had crossed the hold point at which time he canceled the takeoff clearance of the commuter. The commuter aircraft began to slow and turned off the runway at Kilo; which was prior to our aircraft location. At no time was our aircraft actually on the runway; and there was approximately 30 FT between the nose of the aircraft and the runway. We were subsequently cleared to back-taxi down the runway and exit at the south deice pad. We then stopped short of the runway and subsequently were cleared for takeoff; which was uneventful.Construction at Fairbanks has turned the taxiway into a temporary runway. The new runway was originally part of the ramp near the terminal and has small flags along it; which terminate at taxiways. It was not readily identifiable that the hold line on Juliet taxiway begins immediately past an extension of the flags and does not allow a turn onto the taxiway. Additionally the taxi line on the ramp area placed us very close to this hold line; which just appeared to be part of the ramp area. Also the winds were shifting around which caused the First Officer to go heads down to retrieve new data for a tailwind takeoff and place this into the FMC. This was both a distraction and increase in workload for both of us. Familiarity also played a role as this was only the second time I had been to FAI with the construction and temporary runway. During this event; the Controller did not issue a hold short clearance and it lead to a moment of confusion as to whether we had been cleared onto the runway. However; the main cause was the lack of and recognition of the hold point. The biggest help would be a readily identifiable hold line. Additionally; a remark in the field and faciliteis and/or the airport construction diagram notifying crews that the temporary runway hold line is at the intersection of the ramp and the taxiway and doesn't allow the aircraft to turn onto the taxiway would have been extremely helpful. Also being unfamiliar with the airport during this construction phase points again how important it is to have both pilots looking outside during aircraft movement.
I requested a taxi for takeoff clearance from Fairbanks Tower. The Tower gave the clearance to taxi 1L via Juliet. The Captain began giving the takeoff brief and called for the taxi checklist as he taxied. The taxiway apron was lined with flags and sand bags due to runway construction. We finished the brief and completed the checklist. I observed a lot of aircraft landing and departing the runway from both directions. There were two firefighting aircraft scooping water off the water lane going in the same direction we were planning on taking off (1L). The wind was almost a direct cross wind at about 8 knots gust to about 18. The Captain and I heard the tower read out winds to another aircraft and we talked about the need to adjust our takeoff power selection. As I looked up from working on the FMC I noticed we were in a turn toward the runway at Juliet. The flags just passed abeam the flight deck windows I didn't see a hold bar between us and the temporary runway. The captain was slowing the aircraft but not stopped when I said whoa; hold here. He (the tower) didn't tell us to back-taxi. The Captain asked are we past the hold point? I had to look behind me to find and see a painted hold bar just past the flight deck. I said yes and immediately called the tower. The tower asked if we were past the hold line and I said yes just past the hold line. The tower immediately canceled a takeoff clearance for a light twin. As the light twin cleared the runway the tower issued instructions to taxi and clear the runway at the south deice pad which we did. A normal takeoff using 1L followed shortly.Reasons the event occurred: 1. The pilot did not stop the aircraft short of the hold line at 01L and Juliet. 2. The runway construction had caused confusion with many nonstandard markings and placement of these markings relative the runway. 3. S.O.P. of giving briefings; reading checklists; entering last minute data into FMC while the aircraft is in motion divided the pilots' attention. 4. I believe the airport environment was distractingly busy due to tower controller working the ground frequency and having takeoffs in both directions not to mention the firefighting operations all at the same time. 5. I feel that the crew was also tired. This was the fourth day flying in a row.I feel that if all the briefings checklists; and FMC changes had been done while the aircraft was stopped it would allow for both pilots to help navigate while taxiing. I think if there were a definite hold short clearance given the Captain would have been more specifically looking for a hold line rather than navigating around all the flags; sandbags and other hazards. Had the hold line stood out more from the flags; sand bags; and more it would have helped identify where the pilot should have stopped the airplane.
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.