Narrative:

I'm writing to call your attention to a potentially unsafe condition at long beach; ca airport (lgb). Lgb's runway pattern consists of four about 6;000 ft runways formed in a rectangle bisected at two corners by a longer about 10;000 runway; runway 30/12. Runway 30/12 is sufficiently long that its two end sections protrude well outside the 'rectangle' formed by the smaller runways; and are themselves sufficient to land a C-172 on. In this case I completed an ILS approach to runway 30; landed at the numbers; and then turned off to the left at the first opportunity. This opportunity turned out to be the displaced threshold area for runway 25L. The tower noted very nicely: 'we don't do that here;' and gave progressive instructions to a connecting taxiway. I note the following: (1) there was no double yellow line prohibiting such a turnoff; (2) just beyond runway 25L there is a taxiway parallel to runways 25; however; the signage is dense and the directions of the taxi arrows are ambiguous; and (3) given traffic at lgb consists in good part of closely spaced jet traffic; it is a great idea to exit the 'active' quickly. I learned later; upon departing the next day; that both runway 30 and runway 25L are often both active. Obviously; it is not a great idea to have aircraft taxiing through the threshold area for an active runway. Upon further investigation; I learned lgb is number 5 in the frequency of runway incursions nationwide; so I'm guessing I'm hardly the first person to have expressed concern. Possible mitigations; none perfect; include:--painting a double yellow line across where the threshold to runway 25L crosses runway 30; --improving the signage; or worst of all; --closing runways 25 when runway 30 is active. By the way; this same situation exists at other corners of the 'rectangle' at lgb; too.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: C172 pilot experienced a runway incursion at LGB. Reporter stated confusing signage was a contributing factor.

Narrative: I'm writing to call your attention to a potentially unsafe condition at Long Beach; CA airport (LGB). LGB's runway pattern consists of four about 6;000 FT runways formed in a rectangle bisected at two corners by a longer about 10;000 runway; Runway 30/12. Runway 30/12 is sufficiently long that its two end sections protrude well outside the 'rectangle' formed by the smaller runways; and are themselves sufficient to land a C-172 on. In this case I completed an ILS approach to Runway 30; landed at the numbers; and then turned off to the left at the first opportunity. This opportunity turned out to be the displaced threshold area for Runway 25L. The Tower noted very nicely: 'We don't do that here;' and gave progressive instructions to a connecting taxiway. I note the following: (1) there was no double yellow line prohibiting such a turnoff; (2) just beyond Runway 25L there is a taxiway parallel to Runways 25; however; the signage is dense and the directions of the taxi arrows are ambiguous; and (3) given traffic at LGB consists in good part of closely spaced jet traffic; it is a great idea to exit the 'active' quickly. I learned later; upon departing the next day; that both Runway 30 and Runway 25L are often BOTH active. Obviously; it is not a great idea to have aircraft taxiing through the threshold area for an active runway. Upon further investigation; I learned LGB is Number 5 in the frequency of runway incursions nationwide; so I'm guessing I'm hardly the first person to have expressed concern. Possible mitigations; none perfect; include:--painting a double yellow line across where the threshold to Runway 25L crosses Runway 30; --improving the signage; or worst of all; --closing Runways 25 when Runway 30 is active. By the way; this same situation exists at other corners of the 'rectangle' at LGB; too.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.