Large Transport
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Flight Crew Type 1646
Situational Awareness
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Clearance; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Ground Incursion Runway; Ground Incursion Taxiway; Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence
Human Factors
After flying the RNAV (GPS) Y RWY 3 in moderate to heavy rain and winds to minimums and landing; we cleared the runway at Taxiway F with a right turn. We had the wipers on full and visibility was somewhat limited by the blowing rain associated with a hurricane which made it difficult to see and hear well. We received taxi instructions to the terminal which we both thought was F; what sounded like G; A; cleared to cross Runway 33 to the gate; but that may have been incorrect. We were never told by the Tower that we had errored; but I believe that my clearance might have been F; A; to the ramp; so I would have missed the turn at A and crossed Runway 33 in error. The distance from Runway 3 to Taxiway F is very short and it is identified as a hotspot; so it appears it is easy to miss Taxiway A. As soon as we crossed Runway 33; which we both believed we had clearance to do; I saw Taxiway G and believed at that point we had errored because the route didn't appear to make sense; so I instructed my First Officer to call the Tower and tell them we believed we had missed a turn. We were then given clearance to taxi via G; cross 33; A to the ramp which we did. There was no other communication with Tower.As far as we know there was no other aircraft on approach to CHS at the time; and there was only an aircraft waiting to depart on Runway 3. Should I be correct; and I did indeed miss the turn; will have a number of factors that I need to take note of and be cognizant of in the future.1. I woke up [very early] that day on day 4 of flying and day 5 away from home due to commuting so I was tired.2. I was reassigned to fly to CHS instead of [another airport] that was on my pairing and was only scheduled with about 40 minutes of connection; so I was hurrying. I didn't know that had happened until about an hour prior to departing.3. It was my first or second time to CHS; so I wasn't familiar with the airport.4. Weather and turbulence enroute didn't give me as much time to review CHS as I would normally. Because we were watching winds to be sure we wouldn't exceed the wet runway crosswind limits on the aircraft; we changed from planning on Runway 33 to Runway 3 instead about mid-flight; but because the weather was bad and getting worse as we approached; I focused on safely flying the aircraft. I did brief the turnoff at F as a possibility; but thought I would end up at the runway intersection or A; so was more prepared for that.5. The wipers in the [aircraft] are very loud; but I could not see without them; so I really should have come to a full stop; set the brakes and confirmed the taxi route. I use my own sheet to record data for each flight I fly which has a section to record taxi instructions; and I did write down as F; C (not G; don't know why); A cleared to cross Runway 33 on it.6. The weather associated with [a hurricane] made taxiing even more difficult than normal. I did; as I always do; confirm with my First Officer that we were cleared to cross the runway which he agreed we were; but the noise from the wipers; coupled with the limited visibility from the squalls; and added to the unfamiliar airport should have signaled me to be even more vigilant.7. The taxi chart pop-up function on my Jeppesen-Pro on the iPad did not come up on landing; so I had to manually bring up the page which took me a couple of tries to do; so I was already up to A by the time the chart displayed. I really wish Jeppesen would make the target area on the screen for your finger a bit larger.I take pride in the fact that I am very careful and always try to operate in the safest manner possible; so it bothers me immensely that I may have blown a taxi clearance and crossed a runway without clearance. I hope that was not the case; but either way there will be lessons learned from this.
[Report narrative contained no additional information.]
Air carrier crew reported a runway and taxiway incursion at CHS in an area that is shown as hot spot 1 on the airport diagram.