Originally Posted by
Danny
Danny:
Thanks very much for providing that link to the tower and ground audio. It adds some clarity to the story.
First, Taxiway G ends at the entrance to the Landmark (formerly Garrett) ramp entrance. The ramp is shared with the Singapore Airlines cargo facility just west of Korean cargo and east of Landmark. As soon as you leave the ramp northbound and cross the vehicle service road, you are at the intersection of taxiways G and A facing to the North. A is perhaps 100 to 150' North of the ramp and a similar distance South of 25L. The turnoff from taxiway A onto the ramp is designated A5. Here is the link to the
LAX airport diagram.(pdf)
The phraseology used to clear the Gulfstream to taxi to rwy 25R from Landmark was
"Runway two-five right, taxi via Alpha and Golf, hold short of two-five right." This was then read back by an American sounding voice verbatim. A very short time later, ground informs BIP that they have missed taxiway G. The Gulfstream crewmember responds, indicating that he understands, but then his voice seems to trail off before the microphone button is released. A voice can be heard in the background at this time, but I'm unable to tell if it was the other Gulfstream crewmember or perhaps something else. After a short time,the ground controller then clears the Gulfstream to
"Cross two-five left, hold short 25R." This too is read back verbatim. Gulfstream is then instructed to
"Monitor tower one two zero point niner-five." This is also read back.
The southside local controller seems to have been relieved by another controller within less than a minute. (probably SOP after a "deal") The New controller instructs the Skywest RJ to finish clearing the runway. When the Gulfstream checks in on the tower frequency, he tells tower that ground cleared them across both runways.
This is where the question of misunderstanding the meaning of the clearance they were issued may come into play. Going back to the original taxi clearance issued, did the crew understand that clearance to mean that they were cleared to cross the departure runway as part of their clearance to taxi to 25R? The person operating the radio said they had been cleared across BOTH runways by ground control, yet no such clearance is heard on this recording. See my earlier post for the rule regarding the taxi clearance which IS on the recording.
I don't know that we'll ever learn what conversation took place in that airplane, or what the thought the processes of the crew were either. I guess the second controller heard on tower frequency said it best when he said that everyone was safe and that's the important thing.
Best regards,
Westhawk