Da-20 instructor pilot reports departing a runway with an airport vehicle on the edge spraying weeds...

Narrative:

We did traffic pattern operations on a closed runway. I had just finished another lesson with a student; and boarded the aircraft with the second student. We listened to the AWOS; heard a NOTAM for spraying operations in effect; and decided on using runway 5 for our pre-solo pattern operations. We did not hear a NOTAM for any runway closures. About half an hour later; we were back-taxing for departure and noticed that the airport sprayer (truck and trailer) was spraying each runway edge light on our runway; having entered the runway environment from the intersection. They were previously spraying lights on runway 13/31. As we turned around; made our call; and prepared for takeoff; the truck did not stay in the grass as we expected; but made its way onto the southeast edge of the runway. A gentleman got out of the truck and stood very near to the truck. Since we were already in the process of departing; and the truck and gentleman were well right of our takeoff path (parked); I elected to depart from the far left side of the runway. Our right wing tip was; I believe; right over the centerline of the runway. We then switched to using runway 13 for the rest of our pattern work. I also immediately advised another flight school aircraft not to use runway 5; but to switch to runway 13 to avoid 'the truck' while he was spraying. Even though I did not realize that the runway was closed; in hindsight I should not have departed the runway with an airport vehicle that was not entirely off the pavement. I had no indication to know that the runway was closed other than the fact that an airport truck was on the 'active' runway. I believe what really caused the problem was a lack of communication from the airport authority vehicle; or the FBO itself. There was no call on unicom of the new runway closure; and the airport vehicle made no attempt to communicate the closure either. However; next time I will certainly ask the vehicle directly about their intentions and their level of comfort with the situation. I will also simply abort the takeoff unless the truck is in the grass as opposed to being in the pavement. Given this exact situation again; assuming the truck did not reply to my radios; I would taxi to runway 13 and use it instead of departing on runway 5.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: DA-20 instructor pilot reports departing a runway with an airport vehicle on the edge spraying weeds. The runway was apparently closed at the time; but this information was not conveyed to the reporter.

Narrative: We did traffic pattern operations on a closed runway. I had just finished another lesson with a student; and boarded the aircraft with the second student. We listened to the AWOS; heard a NOTAM for spraying operations in effect; and decided on using Runway 5 for our pre-solo pattern operations. We did not hear a NOTAM for any runway closures. About half an hour later; we were back-taxing for departure and noticed that the airport sprayer (truck and trailer) was spraying each runway edge light on our runway; having entered the runway environment from the intersection. They were previously spraying lights on RWY 13/31. As we turned around; made our call; and prepared for takeoff; the truck did not stay in the grass as we expected; but made its way onto the southeast edge of the runway. A gentleman got out of the truck and stood very near to the truck. Since we were already in the process of departing; and the truck and gentleman were well right of our takeoff path (parked); I elected to depart from the far left side of the runway. Our right wing tip was; I believe; right over the centerline of the runway. We then switched to using Runway 13 for the rest of our pattern work. I also immediately advised another flight school aircraft not to use Runway 5; but to switch to Runway 13 to avoid 'the truck' while he was spraying. Even though I did not realize that the runway was closed; in hindsight I should not have departed the runway with an airport vehicle that was not entirely off the pavement. I had no indication to know that the runway was closed other than the fact that an airport truck was on the 'active' runway. I believe what really caused the problem was a lack of communication from the airport authority vehicle; or the FBO itself. There was no call on UNICOM of the new runway closure; and the airport vehicle made no attempt to communicate the closure either. However; next time I will certainly ask the vehicle directly about their intentions and their level of comfort with the situation. I will also simply abort the takeoff unless the truck is in the grass as opposed to being in the pavement. Given this exact situation again; assuming the truck did not reply to my radios; I would taxi to Runway 13 and use it instead of departing on Runway 5.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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.

Attributes
ACN	1178676
Time
Date	201406
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	SMD.Airport
State Reference	IN
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	DA20-A1 Katana
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Takeoff
Route In Use	Visual Approach
Flight Plan	None
Person 1
Function	Instructor
Qualification	Flight Crew Commercial Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Instrument
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 200 Flight Crew Total 2750 Flight Crew Type 1800
Events
Anomaly	Conflict Ground Conflict Less Severe Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

Da-20 instructor pilot reports departing a runway with an airport vehicle on the edge spraying weeds. The runway was apparently closed at the time; but this information was not conveyed to the reporter.