C680 flight crew reported experiencing a close encounter with a departing PA-28 while cleared to bac...

Attributes
ACN	1353924
Time
Date	201605
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	MMMM.Airport
State Reference	FO
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Cessna Citation Sovereign (C680)
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Taxi
Flight Plan	IFR
Aircraft 2
Make Model Name	PA-28 Cherokee/Archer/Dakota/Pillan/Warrior
Flight Phase	Takeoff
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 35 Flight Crew Total 11500 Flight Crew Type 625
Person 2
Function	First Officer Pilot Not Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 40 Flight Crew Total 6000 Flight Crew Type 600
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Conflict Ground Conflict Critical
Miss Distance	Horizontal 50 Vertical 20

Narrative:

We received clearance to taxi from tower. The clearance was to taxi runway 05 via alpha into position. This was the clearance that was read back. There are no parallel taxiways at the airport so any taxi operation requires a back taxi on the runway. As we approached the intersection of alpha and runway 05 we checked both directions for traffic and then proceeded. We were half-way onto the runway when I observed a single-engine piper just lifting off runway 05. We immediately stopped our aircraft and the piper flew past in front of us. We called tower and reported the piper and asked if we should proceed. The tower controller seemed confused and finally confirmed our clearance to taxi into position and hold. After debriefing with the first officer it is our impression that the tower controller had forgot about the piper who seemed to be doing pattern work at the airport. Both of us never remember hearing any hold short instructions and believe the controller had indeed cleared us into position on runway 05. This incident confirmed that our SOP of visually checking the runway prior to entering is critical to safety of operations. It also confirmed that just a quick check is not enough and we must continue to scan for traffic throughout the taxi.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: C680 flight crew reported experiencing a close encounter with a departing PA-28 while cleared to back taxi on MMMM Runway 05.

Narrative: We received clearance to taxi from tower. The clearance was to taxi runway 05 via alpha into position. This was the clearance that was read back. There are no parallel taxiways at the airport so any taxi operation requires a back taxi on the runway. As we approached the intersection of alpha and runway 05 we checked both directions for traffic and then proceeded. We were half-way onto the runway when I observed a single-engine Piper just lifting off runway 05. We immediately stopped our aircraft and the Piper flew past in front of us. We called tower and reported the Piper and asked if we should proceed. The tower controller seemed confused and finally confirmed our clearance to taxi into position and hold. After debriefing with the First Officer it is our impression that the tower controller had forgot about the Piper who seemed to be doing pattern work at the airport. Both of us never remember hearing any hold short instructions and believe the controller had indeed cleared us into position on runway 05. This incident confirmed that our SOP of visually checking the runway prior to entering is critical to safety of operations. It also confirmed that just a quick check is not enough and we must continue to scan for traffic throughout the taxi.

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.

C680 flight crew reported experiencing a close encounter with a departing PA-28 while cleared to back taxi on MMMM runway 05.