Narrative:

Aircraft reported debris on the runway; city notified; closed the runway. City vehicle went out on the runway; picked up the debris and reported clear and said that operations were calling to open the runway. I did not have a closure strip on my board and the closed runway X's were never put on the asde-X. I told the tower supervisor that the car was clear and they were calling. At that point; I had the error of expectation that they had called that the runway was open. I didn't have any memory joggers to assist me in not having this error. The departure asked what the debris had been; I had the city tell the pilot what they had picked up. The car was on the frequency when I cleared the rj for takeoff but never reminded me the runway was still closed. The runway was clear; the aircraft departed without incident. A second vehicle called to enter the runway after the rj had departed; it was at that point that I realized they had never called to reopen the runway. I alerted the supervisor to my error and was relieved from position. Recommendation; taking the time to do all the good operating practices; using closure strips; putting the X's on; the supervisor left the tower; relieved without closing the loop; getting the runway back open; calling the city to get the current status. I am not entirely sure that the relieved supervisor was aware that it was still closed. On my part; ensuring all tools are in place; whatever they are and taking the time for good coordination with the supervisor to ensure I know what they are telling me and avoiding the error of expectation; i.e. Hearing what you want to hear instead of the actual coordination.

Related reports:

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ORD Controller described a technical error when clearing an aircraft for departure on a runway that had not been officially opened by airport operations; admitting all available prevention tools were not utilized.

Narrative: Aircraft reported debris on the runway; city notified; closed the runway. City vehicle went out on the runway; picked up the debris and reported clear and said that operations were calling to open the runway. I did not have a closure strip on my board and the closed runway X's were never put on the ASDE-X. I told the Tower Supervisor that the car was clear and they were calling. At that point; I had the error of expectation that they had called that the runway was open. I didn't have any memory joggers to assist me in not having this error. The Departure asked what the debris had been; I had the City tell the pilot what they had picked up. The car was on the frequency when I cleared the RJ for takeoff but never reminded me the runway was still closed. The runway was clear; the aircraft departed without incident. A second vehicle called to enter the runway after the RJ had departed; it was at that point that I realized they had never called to reopen the runway. I alerted the Supervisor to my error and was relieved from position. Recommendation; taking the time to do all the good operating practices; using closure strips; putting the X's on; the Supervisor left the Tower; relieved without closing the loop; getting the runway back open; calling the city to get the current status. I am not entirely sure that the relieved Supervisor was aware that it was still closed. On my part; ensuring all tools are in place; whatever they are and taking the time for good coordination with the Supervisor to ensure I know what they are telling me and avoiding the error of expectation; i.e. hearing what you want to hear instead of the actual coordination.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.