Medium Transport
Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 1.0
Distraction; Communication Breakdown; Situational Awareness
ATC Issue All Types; Conflict Ground Conflict; Critical; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Air Traffic Control Provided Assistance; Flight Crew Rejected Takeoff
Human Factors; Airport; Aircraft; Procedure
The airport was utilizing Runway 8 as the active runway and Runway 17 as the secondary inactive runway. I was working Local Control and the Ground Controller taxied an aircraft to Runway 17 for departure. Per our procedure the Ground Controller told me Runway 17 was now my control and I used the memory aid to note that (flipping the Runway 17/35 Inactive bar over). I assumed the runway was clear of all vehicles and runway crossings when Ground Control gave me control of the runway. I still scanned the runway before clearing an aircraft for takeoff. Aircraft X called me for departure from Runway 17; I scanned the runway; cleared him for takeoff and told him no delay for traffic inbound to Runway 8. After I cleared Aircraft X; Aircraft Y began crossing at a taxiway. I did not observe this because I was looking forward at Aircraft X to ensure everything was spaced well with my Runway 8 arrival. That taxiway is to your back when you are looking out towards Runway 17. The Ground Controller had forgotten about the crossing when he gave me control of the runway so did not tell Aircraft Y to hold short. Aircraft X ended up aborting takeoff after they were well into the takeoff roll because he saw the aircraft on the runway. I was very alarmed and immediately looked back to see Aircraft Y half way across the runway.Runway incursions appear to be quite common at this airport. Between the pilots and the controllers getting it wrong I would say we have an alarming number. We have procedures in place to prevent this from happening. The procedure that would have helped in this particular incident is the one that requires you to keep the flight strip with you at Ground until all runways have been crossed. I believe this was followed. With an incident this significant it shows how strange it is that PNS does not require runway crossings/change in control to be done on a recorded line. There is nothing recorded that says the Ground Controller gave me control of the runway. I think adding that step may make controllers less complacent and really think about everything they have going on before handing a runway over. It is another layer of accountability that should absolutely be incorporated into our procedures.
The airport was utilizing Runway 8 as the active runway and Runway 17 as the secondary inactive runway. I was working Local Control and the Ground Controller taxied an aircraft to Runway 17 for departure. Per our procedure the Ground Controller told me Runway 17 was now my control and I used the memory aid to note that (flipping the Runway 17/35 Inactive bar over). I assumed the runway was clear of all vehicles and runway crossings when Ground Control gave me control of the runway. I still scanned the runway before clearing an aircraft for takeoff. Aircraft X called me for departure from Runway 17; I scanned the runway; cleared him for takeoff and told him no delay for traffic inbound to Runway 8. After I cleared Aircraft X; Aircraft Y began crossing at a taxiway. I did not observe this because I was looking forward at Aircraft X to ensure everything was spaced well with my Runway 8 arrival. That taxiway is to your back when you are looking out towards Runway 17. The Ground Controller had forgotten about the crossing when he gave me control of the runway so did not tell Aircraft Y to hold short. Aircraft X ended up aborting takeoff after they were well into the takeoff roll because he saw the aircraft on the runway. I was very alarmed and immediately looked back to see Aircraft Y half way across the runway.Runway incursions appear to be quite common at this airport. Between the pilots and the controllers getting it wrong I would say we have an alarming number. We have procedures in place to prevent this from happening. The procedure that would have helped in this particular incident is the one that requires you to keep the flight strip with you at Ground until all runways have been crossed. I believe this was followed. With an incident this significant it shows how strange it is that PNS does not require runway crossings/change in control to be done on a recorded line. There is nothing recorded that says the Ground Controller gave me control of the runway. I think adding that step may make controllers less complacent and really think about everything they have going on before handing a runway over. It is another layer of accountability that should absolutely be incorporated into our procedures.I requested taxi from ground. The Ground Controller responded with; 'Aircraft X; Pensacola Ground; Runway 8 at Alpha intersection departure; taxi via Charlie 2; cross 17 at Charlie 2; Alpha 5; Alpha' to which I responded; '8 at Alpha; taxi via Charlie 2; Alpha 5; Alpha; cross 17 at Charlie 2' and there was no corrective response following my read back. Following this transmission; I briefed to my student that we will be taxiing out of the south part of the ramp and we were cleared to cross Runway 17 and then continue to short of Runway 8. I was demonstrating taxiing and clearing intersections to my student along the way. We cleared right and straight at the intersection; and continued straight. Approximately 250 feet prior to the hold short line; (100 feet prior to the enhanced centerline taxiway markings) I was reminding my student to clear the runway by looking left on the runway and above verifying that it's clear; looking right on the runway and above verifying that its clear; and confirming we were clear to cross. We cleared left and above; and we looked right and above and did not see any aircraft on or approaching the runway; I said 'clear to cross' to which my student replied; 'I confirm' as I had taught her before.Upon looking right at that time; I saw an aircraft holding short of Runway 17 farther down the runway which blocked the very beginning of the approach end of Runway 17. The runway is sloped upward and with 7;004 feet of runway it is difficult to see the intersection of Runway 17. However upon looking right I did not see an aircraft aside from the aircraft to my right. As we crossed the hold short line and entered the runway I looked left to verify the runway was still clear and then I looked right and saw alarge jet on the runway that we were crossing moving towards us approximately 5;000 feet down the runway. By that point a majority of our aircraft was already beyond the hold short line and on the physical runway so I responded by adding more throttle to get us off of the runway via the slight right and then left turn onto the next taxiway as soon as possible; unsure of as to whether that aircraft had just landed or was taking off but wanting to stay well clear of it. Upon listening to transmissions on Ground and Tower after the event; I found out that aircraft had to abort their takeoff as a result. They had to cool down their brakes and taxi back before they could take off again. We continued our lesson in the traffic pattern as planned as my student needed retraining on landings. I did not receive a phone number at any point following this event; but I turned this into a large teaching event for my student about the concept of 'see and avoid.' I believe that this event was largely caused by an oversight of the controllers (one hand did not know what the other was doing by clearing an aircraft for takeoff on Tower frequency while simultaneously clearing an aircraft to cross the same runway on Ground) and I am unsure as to how I could have responded differently to the situation to prevent it. The Controller cleared us to cross; I read back the clearance to cross; and I cleared the runway visually with my student to the best of our perceptive abilities.
PNS Local Controller reported they cleared an aircraft for takeoff while another aircraft had been cleared to cross the same runway by the Ground Controller. Flight crews reported the runway conflict as well and departing aircraft safely aborted the takeoff.