AircraftOwner Online

For this first post I wanted to come up with something that would really get us thinking. Something that might make a difference, even if it just helps one person. I thought, well, let’s draw of off everyone’s experience and talk about some of the “gotchas” out there. We know that in the world of aviation there seems to be a rule for everything. I guess that, and our own professional standards, is partly why flying is one of the safest modes of transportation in the world today. The truth is, though, we are not perfect. I, like many others, make mistakes and hopefully learn from those mistakes. It is my intent with this first post to get you talking about some of the who, what, why, where, and when of some potential issues out there. I’ll start with one that was recently brought to my attention. Take a look at the KMHT airport chart (If you do not have access to the KMHT chart, click on my profile (Jeff Miller). I have uploaded it to my photos and you can view it there for reference). You are at the airline terminal (adjacent to taxiways G and N) and given taxi instructions that sound something like this: “N13FC taxi to runway 17 via D, A, C, and H.” Think about it for a second. Are you cleared to taxi across 17 at C and continue via H, cross runway 24 and hold short of 17 on H? The answer is no, and this issue has been highlighted at my company as a potential conflict to be aware of. Sure, you are cleared to cross other runways to get to the active (if not told to hold short of other runways or intersections). You are not, however, cleared to cross the active runway that you have been cleared to taxi to. FAA order JO 7110.65S effective February 14, 2008 paragraph 3-7-2 b. states: “When authorizing an aircraft to taxi to an assigned takeoff runway and hold short instructions are not issued, specify the runway preceded by “taxi to,” and issue taxi instructions. This authorizes the aircraft to “cross” all runways/taxiways which the taxi route intersects except the assigned takeoff runway. This does not authorize the aircraft to “enter” or “cross” the assigned takeoff runway at any point.” In the future, I have planned a series of discussions with the manager of ATC training for Phoenix Sky Harbor airport. We plan to discuss some pilot/controller issues that have come up over the years that may be of interest to the general aviation community. If you have any questions for the PHX ATC training manager, please let me know and I will get the answers. Please feel free to discuss and post any comments and any “gotchas” that you might have come across. We can all learn from each other’s experiences. Hopefully, through our discussions, we can all learn, grow, and quite possibly we might post an experience that will help a fellow pilot avoid a potential conflict. This forum is for you. It is my hope that we will enter into discussions with pilots of all experience levels. The direction that it goes is up to you! Have fun, I look forward to your input! Jeff Miller