Professional Pilot, January 2016
What are your procedures to avoid runway incursions About 25 years ago I was flying freight out of DFW It had been a tough night with thunderstorms delaying everything so much so that as we taxied out for departure there were rescheduled airliners with passengers still taking off at 3 am We Visit us at Scheduler Dispatcher Conference Booth 1239 30 PROFESSIONAL PILOT January 2016 taxied out southbound on the parallel taxiway between 2 runways and were told to expect an intersection departure A Caravan taxied out before us We monitored tower frequency and heard tower clear an MD80 well call it Airliner 123 for takeoff on 35L As the MD80 accelerated I exclaimed to my copilot Ed is that Caravan on the runway It certainly looked like it Yes There was the Caravan in position on 35L near an intersection about 4000 ft from where the MD80 had begun its takeoff roll About 2 seconds later tower screamed Airliner 123 cancel takeoff clearance We watched in horror as the MD80 went into a max abort We expected to see a fireball The MD80 came to a halt with its nose obscuring the tail of the Caravan There was complete silence as we all caught our breath Then the MD80 transmitted Tower confirm Airliner 123 had takeoff clearance Tower replied Affirmative Airliner 123 The propeller aircraft was not supposed to be there Confirm there was no collision The MD80 responded There was no collision The Caravan pilot replied I was sure I was cleared into position and hold Tower responded We will replay the tapes Later I learned that the Caravan pilot got a suspended license for a period of time Glenn Peters ATP Metro 23 Chief Pilot M7 Aviation Services San Antonio TX When we were selecting available upgrade options for the EASy II for the flightdeck of our Falcon 2000LX we decided to request the Honeywell RAAS Runway Awareness and Advisory System Having now used it for a while I can report it has proven to be a very effective taxiway tool that is both simple to use and very valuable in providing on airport situational awareness It is especially helpful when operating in low visibility conditions at unfamiliar airports or in use at airports with complicated taxiways Enio Beal ATP Falcon 2000LX Captain Conteminas Aviation Brasilia Brazil After I call ground control for taxi instructions if they clear me to cross a runway in my taxi clearance I still verify a 2nd time with ground control as I approach that runway Of course even if Im cleared to cross Im going to make a visual check both ways Jim Thorne ATP Citation CJ1 Chief Pilot Marck Industries Bois DArc MO Prior to crossing the threshold of a runway both pilots confirm the runway number is the correct one as assigned Also clear all entry points Once lined up confirm the heading matches the runway where you are cleared to depart Melinda Fasanaro ATP King Air B200GT Chief Pilot Michael Wayne Investment Corp Chesapeake VA
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