NASA · Aviation Safety Reporting System
Air carrier crew reported a conflict while on final approach with another aircraft taxing across the landing runway at a tower controlled airport in VMC. ATC directed the air carrier crew to go around when the other aircraft did not clear the runway, then returned for a safe landing.
What is ASRS?
The Aviation Safety Reporting System is NASA's voluntary, confidential, non- punitive incident-reporting system, established 1976. Pilots, controllers, dispatchers, and maintenance technicians file reports describing safety- relevant events. NASA de-identifies every report before adding it to the public database. Reports are not investigated by NASA, the FAA, or the NTSB — they represent the reporter's perspective.
Pilot narratives
Verbatim from the de-identified NASA record. First-person account by the
reporter. NASA strips identifying details (names, company, specific time);
anonymization placeholders are ZZZ,
X, Y.
Reporter 1
While on final approach to runway 27L at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, we were fully configured and cleared to land. Downfield Aircraft Z had just finished crossing the 27L runway, when the First Officer and I noticed Aircraft Y on taxi northbound, nearing the approach end of our landing runway. As they began crossing 27L, they did not appear to be taxiing fast enough to clear the runway before we would land. I do not recall ever hearing from the tower that Aircraft Y would be crossing 27L; we may have missed the call if it was made, perhaps while we were busy configuring our aircraft for the landing and didn’t hear it. At less than a mile from the runway, we queried the tower, “Is Aircraft X still cleared to land?”, upon which the immediate response from the tower was “Aircraft X, go around”. On frequency right after, we heard “Good call”. I’m not sure who made it. We conducted a normal go around, followed by a normal landing at ATL.
Reporter 2
Uneventful flight to ATL. While on short final to 27L (fully configured and stable and descending through 1000 ft), Aircraft Y began crossing the approach end (from left to right from our perspective). It seemed close and I’m not sure if I heard ATC give them clearance to cross. I told the CA (Captain), “this looks close” and he agreed so I queried the tower asking “Are we still cleared to land?” They hesitated a second and then directed us to go around, which we were just about to initiate on our own as well. We completed a normal go around as the tail of Aircraft Y cleared the runway. We then returned for an uneventful landing on runway 28.
NASA classification — Anomalies
- ATC Issue
- Conflict
- Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural
- Ground Incursion
NASA classification — Assessments
- Contributing Factors / Situations
- Human Factors · Procedure
- Primary Problem
- Procedure
ASRS reports are voluntarily submitted, de-identified by NASA, and represent the reporter's perspective. The presence of reports on a topic cannot be used to infer prevalence in the National Airspace System. The authoritative source is the NASA ASRS Database Online at asrs.arc.nasa.gov ↗.