That was close: DCA Runway Incursion 9/20

That has to be a bad angle because it looks like that plane on approach was gonna land in the water
 
midcap said:
That has to be a bad angle because it looks like that plane on approach was gonna land in the water
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Approaches to Reagan are all water from both sides.
 
Looks like the plane on the ground was taxiing to RWY 19 and crossed RWY 15 (airplane on short final to RWY 15 had to power up).

...have a phone number for you to call, advise when ready to copy
 
I hope that the guy on final would have gone around on his own. In fact, he should have initiated a go around on his own.
 
Just before the video starts - do we know that 2784 was told to hold short? Was it his fault or an ATC or ground control screw-up?
 
The AA2784 may still have been on ground. Ground control (not in the video) is yelling the same thing at him however.

Listening to ground he was cleared to "cross 15 at K, monitor tower on the other side." She amends that by telling him "no delay, traffic on two-mile final."
 
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For those unfamiliar, the conga line of planes is for runway 19. The plane landing was for runway 15. AA2784 was crossing runway 15-33 on the parallel taxiway to the departure end of runway 19.
 
Greg Bockelman said:
I hope that the guy on final would have gone around on his own. In fact, he should have initiated a go around on his own.
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Since it was VFR I’m sure the crew was already discussing it and prepared to since they had the premium view of what was developing. They probably had a decision point, but any delays after a certain point would give the controller an anxiety attack, like it did. Notice how calm the crew responds after being given the go-around clearance. Don’t get me wrong, this was a big deal. Ground control should have seen this developing and the crossing traffic - looking left towards short final as they crossed an active -should have seen the jet staring them down.
 
TrueCourse said:
and the crossing traffic - looking left towards short final as they crossed an active -should have seen the jet staring them down.
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Next time, maybe look down the final for the active landing runway *before* you cross, not as you cross... :eek:

Good reminder that we need to be there to back up ATC. It's perfectly ok to say "no thanks" sometimes...
I wonder if by the time that traffic was called as "no delay, traffic on a 2 mile final", it was already at 1 mile, or less.
 
Yes, that’s what I meant. ‘Clear left’, ‘clear right’, or ‘final clear’ is the way I’ve always done it and wrote SOP for it and can’t imagine it not being for anyone else.
 
flyingron said:
The AA2784 may still have been on ground. Ground control (not in the video) is yelling the same thing at him however.

Listening to ground he was cleared to "cross 15 at K, monitor tower on the other side." She amends that by telling him "no delay, traffic on two-mile final."
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Do you have a link to that?
 
Was it an incursion if the plane on the ground was cleared across and that landing traffic never touched down? Is there required separation between aircraft on final and aircraft on the ground?
 
Lindberg said:
Was it an incursion if the plane on the ground was cleared across and that landing traffic never touched down? Is there required separation between aircraft on final and aircraft on the ground?
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The FAA defines runway incursion as, "Any occurrence at an aerodrome involving the incorrect presence of an aircraft, vehicle or person on the protected area of a surface designated for the landing and take off of aircraft."

Separation standards are that the runway must be clear when the landing aircraft reaches the runway threshold.

You don't have to have a loss of separation in order to have a runway incursion.
 
luvflyin said:
Do you have a link to that?
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https://archive.liveatc.net/kdca/KDCA1-Gnd-Sep-17-2022-2100Z.mp3

The clearance is at 44:10 in the recording. The recording is pretty poor. You can't hear the aircraft at all in most cases. THere's also noise covering up the ground controller.

44:10. Ameican 2784 Runway 19 taxi ...[noise]... Runway 15. And monitor tower on the other side.

44:45. Affirmative. Cross runway 15 at Kilo.

45:10. And American 2784. No delay across Runway 15, traffic on two-mile final

47:00. American 2784 straight head keep going ahead. American 2784 go ahead.

The problem is we don't know where the plane was at various points in this sequence and whether AA2784 dawdled crossing the runway or whether the ground controller cut it too close. There seems to be about four minutes from the time that she told him "no delay" and the time she issued the "keep going" instruction. Given E175 approach speed that sort of puts the plane four miles out on the "no delay" call.

What is clear from both the ground controller and the local controller instructions is that they failed to use the proper terminology in their panic. The ground controller's instructions aren't clear (and this is probably where he was listening). The tower at least says "Go straight ahead QUICK I got traffic short final."

From 7110.65:

2−1−5. EXPEDITIOUS COMPLIANCE a. Use the word “immediately” only when expeditious compliance is required to avoid an imminent situation.​

Such is also echoed in the Pilot Controller Glossary. Most of us are conditioned when we hear IMMEDIATELY from ATC as an indicate that the instruction needs urgent compliance.
 
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Lindberg said:
Was it an incursion if the plane on the ground was cleared across and that landing traffic never touched down? Is there required separation between aircraft on final and aircraft on the ground?
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Any time an airplane is on a runway when it's not supposed to be, it's an incursion regardless of whether or not there is a loss of separation. If there is a loss of separation, it's either an Operational Error if the controller's fault, or a Pilot Deviation if the pilots fault.

2. During arrival operations, ensure the following:
(a) An aircraft/vehicle has completed crossing prior to the arriving aircraft crossing the landing threshold
 
Almost looks like there wasn't a lot of room for the American to get across. My opinion, the controller was trying to stuff as many aircraft across the runway on the limited taxiway as possible before the arrival, but ran out of time and/or space.
 
midwestpa24 said:
Almost looks like there wasn't a lot of room for the American to get across. My opinion, the controller was trying to stuff as many aircraft across the runway on the limited taxiway as possible before the arrival, but ran out of time and/or space.
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Yeah. I was thinking American wasn't to excited about hurrying it up because of all the planes on the other side.
 
Larry in TN said:
The FAA defines runway incursion as, "Any occurrence at an aerodrome involving the incorrect presence of an aircraft, vehicle or person on the protected area of a surface designated for the landing and take off of aircraft."

Separation standards are that the runway must be clear when the landing aircraft reaches the runway threshold.

You don't have to have a loss of separation in order to have a runway incursion.
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The incoming aircraft was going around well before he crossed the threshold. So seems like an almost runway incursion.
 
Lindberg said:
The incoming aircraft was going around well before he crossed the threshold. So seems like an almost runway incursion.
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It was an Incursion. May not have been a loss of separation. But that doesn’t change the fact that it was an Incursion.
 
luvflyin said:
It was an Incursion. May not have been a loss of separation. But that doesn’t change the fact that it was an Incursion.
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The crossing airplane was cleared across. The airborne aircraft was not landing at the time it crossed the threshold. What aircraft was on the runway incorrectly?
 
Lindberg said:
The crossing airplane was cleared across. The airborne aircraft was not landing at the time it crossed the threshold. What aircraft was on the runway incorrectly?
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The crossing aircraft. Look at it this way. The Incursion caused the Go Around, which prevented a loss of Separation, so therefore there was no Operational Error or Pilot Deviation. Blame for the Incursion is almost certainly ATC’s.
 
Lindberg said:
The crossing airplane was cleared across. The airborne aircraft was not landing at the time it crossed the threshold. What aircraft was on the runway incorrectly?
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The landing aircraft was attempting to land at the time that the crossing airplane was clear to cross, hence the incursion that caused the go around.
 
Then the incursion was a controller error. If the airplane was cleared to cross, but there was not sufficient time for him to cross before the landing traffic had to go around.
 
Also it sounds like the crossing traffic took his own sweet time crossing. It’s never good form to spend any more time than necessary on or near an active runway.
 
Greg Bockelman said:
Also it sounds like the crossing traffic took his own sweet time crossing. It’s never good form to spend any more time than necessary on or near an active runway.
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I think he was concerned (correctly) about the plane in front of him pulling forward enough for him to have room to not have his tail hanging over the hold short line. Looking at the airport overhead, the hold short line for runway 15 in that box before 19 is almost 100' from the edge of the runway. Me thinks the controller tried overstuff the can.
 
Jeff Oslick said:
I think he was concerned (correctly) about the plane in front of him pulling forward enough for him to have room to not have his tail hanging over the hold short line. Looking at the airport overhead, the hold short line for runway 15 in that box before 19 is almost 100' from the edge of the runway. Me thinks the controller tried overstuff the can.
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The hold short line means nothing when you’re exiting the runway.
 
luvflyin said:
The crossing aircraft. Look at it this way. The Incursion caused the Go Around, which prevented a loss of Separation, so therefore there was no Operational Error or Pilot Deviation. Blame for the Incursion is almost certainly ATC’s.
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The landing aircraft's clearance was cancelled before he crossed the threshold, so at that point he wasn't landing. So what's the required separation between a taxiing aircraft and a aircraft going around?
 
Sluggo63 said:
The hold short line means nothing when you’re exiting the runway.
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Incorrect. The hold short line indicates the edge of the Runway Safety Area. If any part of your aircraft is beyond the line, you are still in the Safety Area. At a controlled airport especially, you are not clear of the runway until you have completely cross the hold short line.
 
Lindberg said:
The landing aircraft's clearance was cancelled before he crossed the threshold, so at that point he wasn't landing. So what's the required separation between a taxiing aircraft and a aircraft going around?
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There isn’t any separation criteria in that situation.
 
Jeff Oslick said:
I think he was concerned (correctly) about the plane in front of him pulling forward enough for him to have room to not have his tail hanging over the hold short line. Looking at the airport overhead, the hold short line for runway 15 in that box before 19 is almost 100' from the edge of the runway. Me thinks the controller tried overstuff the can.
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In that case, I would not have started across.
 
midwestpa24 said:
Incorrect. The hold short line indicates the edge of the Runway Safety Area. If any part of your aircraft is beyond the line, you are still in the Safety Area. At a controlled airport especially, you are not clear of the runway until you have completely cross the hold short line.
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I'm going to call this a draw, and split the points with you.

You are clear of the runway as soon as you cross the runway edge, not the hold short line.

(Here's where I concede that I'll split the points)

But, you have to be able to continue to taxi unimpeded to the hold short line (that's the part that I didn't remember).

So, you are/can call clear of the runway as soon as you pass the runway edge, but you have to be able to (and are required to) continue to taxi past the hold short line.

Ref: AIM 4-3-20

4-3-20 Exiting the Runway After Landing
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The following procedures must be followed after landing and reaching taxi speed.

2. Taxi clear of the runway unless otherwise directed by ATC. An aircraft is considered clear of the runway when all parts of the aircraft are past the runway edge and there are no restrictions to its continued movement beyond the runway holding position markings. In the absence of ATC instructions, the pilot is expected to taxi clear of the landing runway by taxiing beyond the runway holding position markings associated with the landing runway, even if that requires the aircraft to protrude into or cross another taxiway or ramp area. Once all parts of the aircraft have crossed the runway holding position markings, the pilot must hold unless further instructions have been issued by ATC.
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Sluggo63 said:
I'm going to call this a draw, and split the points with you.

You are clear of the runway as soon as you cross the runway edge, not the hold short line.

(Here's where I concede that I'll split the points)

But, you have to be able to continue to taxi unimpeded to the hold short line (that's the part that I didn't remember).

So, you are/can call clear of the runway as soon as you pass the runway edge, but you have to be able to (and are required to) continue to taxi past the hold short line.

Ref: AIM 4-3-20
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And then you have this guidance:
http://www.faraim.org.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com/aim/aim-4-03-14-108.html
An aircraft exiting a runway is not clear of the runway until all parts of the aircraft have crossed the applicable holding position marking
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“Go straight ahead quick!” I guess that phraseology works. The taxiing aircraft doesn’t have to be past the hold short lines since they’re crossing and not approaching the runway. They do have to be clear though by the time Brickyard crosses threshold. Hard to tell from the vid if that happened or not. Doesn’t really matter though since the aircraft was given a go around before crossing threshold anyway.
 
Cap'n Jack said:
And then you have this guidance:
http://www.faraim.org.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com/aim/aim-4-03-14-108.html
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Interesting. At least the FAA is consistently inconsistent.

I'm still going with the Chapter 4 definition I posted (past the runway edge but unimpeded to the holding position markings).

I found a bunch of other references that echo the Chapter 4 definition. I'm thinking the Chapter 2 one was an oversight.

https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publications/media/atpb_october2016.pdf

https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publications/atpubs/pcg_html/glossary-c.html
 
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