Originally Posted by
Compton3fox
Given the lack a definite departure runway as per previous comments at JFK, ensuring a readback of the Departure runway seems critical. Of course that takes up airtime but never the less, it should always be required.
Having read the whole thread, i suspect the PF thought they were departing on 31L so was expecting to be cleared to cross 4L and that's where Conformation or expectation bias stepped in. Hence he expected to see 4L, which he did, so he crossed as per the clearance he thought he had. Ironically, being JFK based & very familiar with JFK may make this *more* likely as once he had the departure runway set in his mind as 31L,
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Shouldn't matter if done in a manner designed to minimize incidents like this. That would be: The controller says "American 106 cross 31 Left". The pilot on the radio reads back "Cross 31 Left American 106". The pilot taxiing says out loud "Cleared to cross 31L" and looks at the hold short sign or painted markings that have the runway number and says "31L cleared to cross, clear left". If they find themselves saying 4 Left so soon after saying 31 Left, it should trigger doubt and the aircraft does not proceed until confirmation that they are cleared to cross 4L. At first, they will think that ATC made the error and just want confirmation to cross 4L. After some back and forth with ATC, it will eventually become apparent to the AA pilots that they had become confused and eventually things get figured out. But everything is figured out safely because the pilots never moved beyond the 4L sign because they never heard the words "cleared to cross 4 Left".
If you freeze this video at 13:52, you will notice that you can see the hold short painting markings and the runway signs even when very close to the hold short line. Think of a clearance to cross the runway as a clearance to move beyond paint markings/signs of the same number.