B747 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Situational Awareness; Confusion; Communication Breakdown
ATC Issue All Types; Conflict Ground Conflict; Critical
General None Reported / Taken
Human Factors; Airport
We arrived about two hours after dark. Operations had told us we were parking at [the Northeast Ramp]. After landing Runway 30 at Miami; we taxied east on M Taxiway to M11. Ground cleared us to cross Runway 26L and we proceeded across 26L. When clear of the runway; we could not see any marshaller or personnel in the north east parking area. We stopped the aircraft and informed Ground Control we would be stationary at the entrance to the north east ramp. They acknowledged our position. We had Logo lights and beacon lights on. Transponder was on in Mode C. We waited about 10 to 15 minutes for personnel to arrive. Just before I noticed their van arrived at the ramp; we saw an aircraft on final approach to Runway 26R. It passed over the cockpit at an approximate altitude of 100 to 150 FT AGL. Once our Maintenance personnel entered the ramp area we followed them to parking. We contacted Ground Control and advised them of the proximity of the landing traffic. They replied that they thought we were clear of both runways and that maybe procedures should be changed in the future.When we stopped at the entrance to the parking ramp; we were trying to allow ourselves room to perform a 180 degree turn if company changed their mind about our parking location. Our parked location placed our cockpit on the extended centerline of Runway 26R. We noted this; but thought Miami was only using 26R for takeoffs as we had only spotted landing traffic on the left runway. If we had moved forward to commit into the parking ramp; our tail would have been in the runway clear zone. With the benefit of hindsight; we should have remained at the M11 stub and not crossed either runway until we were certain we had personnel on the ramp. It appeared that a miscommunication had occurred between our ground crew and operations. If they had coordinated the parking location; we would not have had to wait for personnel to appear. Our personnel were expecting us to park at the west ramp and had to drive 10 to 15 minutes to cover the 4 miles between the two locations.
Multiple miscommunications and an unexpected delay in parking at a remote ramp exposed the flight crew of a B747 to a conflict with traffic landing on Runway 26R at MIA.