NASA · Aviation Safety Reporting System
DA-7X flight crew rejected a takeoff due to an aircraft under tow looked to be crossing mid-runway.
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
Was told to line up and wait runway XXR at intersection 1. Then was cleared for take off. After passing 80 kts, the PIC and pilot flying rejected the takeoff due to a B777 in tow crossing the approach end of [Runway] XXL. The sight picture looked like the aircraft in tow was crossing mid runway. After rejected the takeoff, the PIC and pilot flying exited the runway on Taxiway 2. Taxied back to run checklist. ZZZ Tower might have wanted to advise us that there would be a crossing aircraft in tow on the approach end of the runways before clearing us to takeoff. Or the tug towing the aircraft might have not been cleared at the time of our takeoff. We are unsure of that due to us being on tower frequency and not ground frequency.
Reporter 2
Crew was preparing for departure to ZZZ1. The aircraft underwent a normal power up and taxi. The crew requested to depart [Runway] XXR instead of XR/L with the intent to shorten taxi time. The crew took the runway and started a rolling takeoff. Passing 80 knots, a tug pulling a Company 777 pulled through the approach area of [Runway] XXL. The captain, myself, decided to reject takeoff as the sight picture appeared that the 777 was crossing mid runway. We exited the runway, consulted brake cooling charts, and took off again with no other issues. The problem likely could have been prevented had tower control notified the crew that there was a 777 on a tug on the [Runway] XXL approach end passing in front of the runway. Also, there was no clear markings or barriers indicating that he was not on our runway at the time. For this reason along with the sight picture, we decided to take a precautionary rejected takeoff.
NASA classification — Anomalies
- Conflict
- Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural
- Ground Incursion
NASA classification — Assessments
- Contributing Factors / Situations
- Human Factors · Procedure
- Primary Problem
- Human Factors
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 ↗.