A wide body flight crew inadvertently turned into the wrong parking ramp. Cite high work load associated with a short taxi; unfamiliarity with the ramp in question and fatigue.
Synopsis
A wide body flight crew inadvertently turned into the wrong parking ramp. Cite high work load associated with a short taxi; unfamiliarity with the ramp in question and fatigue.
Narrative
After sitting in the airplane for about 2:15; we departed about 1:30 late and were asked to expedite our flight. During taxi in after landing following a 5:40 flight we were directed to taxi to our assigned ramp. Ramp control also advised us on Comm 2 to park on Spot 3 and issued a lengthy instruction on parking procedures. (This ramp is rather confined; is not our normal parking location; and has significant issues with ground engine power settings causing damage to men and equipment.) My First Officer and I discussed the parking location; but didn't discuss the rather short and apparently simple taxi route to the ramp. Believing I was at the correct ramp entrance due to similar appearance; I turned right toward our normal ramp; but corrected before entering the ramp by turning back north on the taxiway. Ground queried us at approximately the same time as to the assigned ramp; and we confirmed our error and corrective action. Taxi; tow in and shutdown were uneventful. This error is classic familiarity breeding complacency; with 'missionitis' and a bit of fatigue thrown in. In the future I will ask the First Officer to verify taxi route prior to turn and/or stop the aircraft and look at diagram myself if required.
Second reporter narrative
Contributing factors include being tired (almost 3 AM local time); switching from tower to ground frequency; cleaning up the aircraft configuration following the landing (after landing flow); picking up and repeating the taxi clearance; being instructed by the management check airmen (on board giving us a line check) to remember to 'tell ramp (control) we had (crew) bags in the (aircraft) belly'; trying to monitor the Captain as he taxied in; and looking for traffic conflicts on a relatively short taxi distance...there was a lot going on.Ground Control queried our taxi route and I responded on Comm 2 which; as it turned out; was still set to the Ramp Control frequency. Having the radio transmit selector on Comm 2 and not Comm 1 meant I responded to the Ground Controller's query over Ramp's frequency. He never heard our reason for the deviation.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.