An A320 flight crew taxied onto a runway without clearance in part because the airport surfaces were...

Attributes
ACN	817052
Time
Date	200812
Local Time Of Day	0601 To 1200
Place
Locale Reference	airport : zzz.airport
State Reference	US
Altitude	agl single value : 0
Environment
Flight Conditions	IMC
Weather Elements	Fog Snow Ice
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Operator	common carrier : air carrier
Make Model Name	A320
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Navigation In Use	other
Flight Phase	ground : taxi ground : maintenance
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Affiliation	company : air carrier
Function	flight crew : first officer
Qualification	pilot : atp
Experience	flight time last 90 days : 95 flight time total : 11000 flight time type : 4000
ASRS Report	817052
Events
Anomaly	incursion : runway non adherence : clearance
Independent Detector	other flight crewa
Resolutory Action	none taken : detected after the fact
Supplementary
Problem Areas	ATC Human Performance Environmental Factor Flight Crew Human Performance
Primary Problem	Ambiguous

Narrative:

We were given taxi clearance to runway X; hold short runway Y. ATIS was saying airport signage was covered by deep snow. While taxiing; we were completing our taxi flows and checklists. When I looked up; I noticed the captain had entered runway Y without clearance. I immediately queried ground about our clearance and he said continue to taxi to runway X; so we did without incident. Runway Y was unplowed and not being used and all the taxi and runway lights were covered with snow. There was no conflict of any sort and no one was in danger at any time. Factors include low visibility due to fog and snow; deep snow covering airport markings; and high workload during taxi out during marginal weather conditions. I don't think anyone should be given hold short instructions during these extreme conditions. I never did identify runway Y by any type of markings due to everything being covered in snow and the runway not being plowed.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An A320 flight crew taxied onto a runway without clearance in part because the airport surfaces were snow covered.

Narrative: We were given taxi clearance to Runway X; hold short Runway Y. ATIS was saying airport signage was covered by deep snow. While taxiing; we were completing our taxi flows and checklists. When I looked up; I noticed the Captain had entered Runway Y without clearance. I immediately queried Ground about our clearance and he said continue to taxi to Runway X; so we did without incident. Runway Y was unplowed and not being used and all the taxi and runway lights were covered with snow. There was no conflict of any sort and no one was in danger at any time. Factors include low visibility due to fog and snow; deep snow covering airport markings; and high workload during taxi out during marginal weather conditions. I don't think anyone should be given hold short instructions during these extreme conditions. I never did identify Runway Y by any type of markings due to everything being covered in snow and the runway not being plowed.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of May 2009 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.