A licensed pilot and his flight instructor on an instructor check ride took off and had a critical conflict with an arriving aircraft on an intersecting runway; because of task saturation; stress and a communications misunderstanding.
Synopsis
A licensed pilot and his flight instructor on an instructor check ride took off and had a critical conflict with an arriving aircraft on an intersecting runway; because of task saturation; stress and a communications misunderstanding.
Narrative
I was on a check ride for an aircraft checkout. We taxied out to the runway and were holding short as we briefed the takeoff and I was teaching points related to the maneuver to be conducted. After completing the pre-takeoff briefing I requested takeoff with a short delay on the runway; which was approved by Tower. The instruction was quickly read back and we began to roll onto the runway. There was some miscommunication in the cockpit between the PIC and myself as I was explaining the take off as we entered the runway environment. Believing we had been cleared for take off we began the roll. We lifted off and as we were coming to the intersection of the intersecting runway at an altitude of 250 FT we saw a Beech 1900 landing on the intersecting runway. We were switched over to Approach Control where we made the decision to return to the airfield for landing. On approach; we were notified of 'possible pilot deviation' by ATC and instructed to contact them upon landing. I believe this situation was a result of a combination of factors: general nervousness due to being in a check ride environment which caused a narrowing of awareness of sorts. Being somewhat new to the aircraft I was fixated on making sure new checklist items were complete and that I hadn't forgotten anything. Task saturation also seemed to play a roll; we know take-off is one of the busiest phases of flight and combining that with explaining new material on a relatively unfamiliar aircraft led to a loss of situational awareness by both the pilot flying and the PIC. This incident could have been prevented by slowing down and trying to reduce the number of tasks being performed at once in such a critical part of flight. Perhaps [we need to start] making it a practice of both pilots to concur with each other when entering the runway whether they are cleared to take off.
Second reporter narrative
We were conducting an acceptance ride in a complex aircraft for an instructor upgrade in a Piper Arrow (PA-28R-201). The pilot flying and I (PIC/examiner) agreed to conduct a short-field takeoff out of the airport on our VFR departure towards the practice area. We were not rushing; we did brief the flight may be incomplete due to incoming weather that was forecast in the TAF and depicted on the radar at a distance far away (including by our return time). I query the applicant on checklist usage; we conducted a run-up and no problems were noticed. Prior to calling for takeoff I was turning the fan into the on position and I was concerned with the little to no air coming out of the vents. The pilot flying thought he was cleared for a takeoff with a 'short delay' approved due to the nature of the short-field takeoff. As we were positioning on the runway for the takeoff and power was added; while holding the brakes; I query the pilot flying about our takeoff clearance. The pilot flying responded: 'yes we are cleared for takeoff; short delay approved'. As we were rolling I had a feeling that we were not cleared; since I thought I heard a 'position and hold' clearance. The response of the pilot made me believe that he was correct but I still had a feeling. As we were rolling the Tower Controller notifies another airplane to continue his approach 'traffic holding in position'. At that time I realized that we were supposed to hold in position and not given a takeoff clearance. We were accelerating almost to our rotation speed and I thought an abort would have made our situation worse. To all this the pilot flying was teaching a takeoff; since it is part of his aircraft upgrade as our Instructor Pilot. We rotated since we were so close to our rotation speed and I look to about my 10 o'clock and that is when I saw the Beech 1900 on approach to landing on the intersecting runway. At all times I had the aircraft in sight; (he was about 1/4 to 1/2 mile on final); and it seemed that we were not going to collide. I pointed to the pilot flying the traffic and that I was sure that we were supposed to hold in position. When we crossed 800 feet from the B1900 (he was on the round-out portion of his landing). The pilot flying still was convinced that he was cleared for takeoff. No query was issued by ATC or the B1900 until about 1 to 1.5 minutes later ATC advised us about the position and hold clearance. This was creating confusion to us since we were expecting an immediate response by the Tower in the event we made a mistake. The pilot flying queried about the clearance and then apologized to the Controller about our error. Meanwhile we continued to flying 'straight out' as instructed the pilot flying asked me if we were going to terminate the flight and come back since that was an unsatisfactory performance from him. ATC handed us off to departure to which the pilot flying missed the call and the Controller re-instructed. At that point I decided to terminate the flight and ask the pilot flying to request vectors back to airport. To all this he was concerned about how bad the situation was and I reminded him that he needed to make a left turn instead of a right turn as instructed. We decided to calm down and forget the thoughts until we landed and parked the aircraft. ATC asked for us to call them back to answer some questions; which we did and we got to hear the tapes. I think the pilot got so concerned with the teaching; grade; and outcome of the upgrade flight that he was under a lot of stress which caused him to forget his clearance. He also was ensuring that my headset cable was not in the way with the controls; as it got wrapped up with the yoke when he was applying crosswind correction during his taxi onto the runway. He is one of our most experienced and safe pilots. I assumed he was right due to his first response and specific keyword use 'short delay approved' that did not make me assertive enough (usually situations like that would make me stop; but it did not happen today). I was concentrated with the fan operation that caused me to not be assertive with my thoughts of the position and hold clearance. We were never advised about landing traffic on the intersecting runway or heard anything from the Controller which made the pilot believe that we were cleared for takeoff. At the moment when I realized the error; the best course of action was to continue the takeoff to avoid an accident with the intersecting traffic.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.