A300
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Conflict Ground Conflict; Critical
Taxiing to 23R turning from taxiway C onto P we saw Aircraft Y pulled off on the pad at the intersection of taxiway P and J. He was nose toward taxiway P close to the line marking the edge of the pad. At the time I thought it would be close but he was across the line. I moved a little left of the center line to help with clearance and had my First Officer watch our wingtip. As we got close to his nose he flashed his turnoff light at us and I realized I had not turned off my turnoff lights after crossing RW23L so I turned them off. We preceded past and went on. The next night...the Captain of the flight on the pad looked me up and said our wingtip had passed within 5 ft. of his nose and he had flashed his turnoff light to get us to stop. [This event occurred due to my belief] that the line marking a holding pad would give wingtip clearance like a line on our ramp. There was concern enough to cause me to move left of centerline. This should have gotten me to call ground and see if that flight was on frequency and could also insure our wingtip clearance.
Ground clearance to taxi to 23R via Charlie (C) and Papa (P). As we turned left onto taxiway P we noted Aircraft Y parked on Juliet (J) with the nose pointed toward P. The nose of Aircraft Y was several feet north east of the dashed line located on the north east side of taxiway P. As we approached the parked Aircraft Y the captain steered slightly left in order to allow more clearance between our right wing tip and the nose of Aircraft Y. I was watching our right wing tip as we passed by the parked aircraft. I felt that we were close but not unsafe. The rest of the taxi was uneventful. During our debrief with each other at the conclusion of the flight and a subsequent debrief with the crew of the parked Aircraft Y we felt that our wingtip passed too close to the nose of Aircraft Y. It was 'too close for comfort'. Although it is ultimately our responsibility; no warning or alert was given by ground control regarding the parked aircraft. Contributing factor was darkness and our assumption that the holding pad markings allowed us safe clearance with the parked aircraft.
The flight crew of an A300 taxiing on Papa for takeoff on Runway 23R at IND moved slightly left of centerline while they passed a Heavy Mcdonnell Douglas aircraft holding in the pad at the intersection with Juliet; believing the surface markings provided adequate clearance. The next day the flight crew of the Mcdonnell Douglas advised the A300's wingtip had come within five feet of their windshield even given their precautionary deviation.