Narrative:

I was taxiing to runway 30 in the early part of morning twilight. As I approached the 90 degree turn on taxiway a at the approach end of 30 the aircraft nose continued ahead about 4 or 5 more feet than I intended due to sliding on ice. I had slowed to about 6 mph in anticipation of the turn and prior to the even beginning. During the slide I slowed to maybe 2 or 3 mph and also using rudder and engine inputs regained nose traction and continued on a and onto the runway. Turning onto the runway the nose again slid about 5 ft as I was lining up on the center line. The reason that I am filing this report is two fold. 1. I am submitting because I was surprised by the event and I should not have been surprised. 2. I was exercising an abundance of caution (just ordinary it is dark and small taxiway caution - but not winter specific caution) and without this ordinary abundance of caution it could very well ended with an aircraft leaving the taxiway and onto grass. My taxi out from the terminal was slow and cautious probably averaging 12 to 15 KTS. It seemed like a dry or damp taxiway with good traction. I slowed well before the 90 degree turn on taxiway a. It was a slow and cautious turn; just not an invisible ice covered taxiway slow and cautious turn. I have had a nose wheel lose traction many times in the past when I was expecting it; even sitting still with engine not running I've had aircraft slide across a ramp. I am experienced on ice having landed and taken off on frozen lakes and on ice covered runways and taxiways many times having grown up in and flown and lived in cold climates prior to working at [this carrier]. I have quite a few winters at [this carrier]. My experience is a non-issue. What is an issue were my expectations and that I had not mentally changed from a 'summer' to a 'winter' mental mode. All the signs were there for me to see. There were ice patches getting out of the van. The ramp had been deiced by the ground crew prior to the flight crew showing up; and the aircraft had been deiced. But; you see what you expect to see and the aircraft handled on the taxiway as if it were on dry pavement until it came time to turn. The aircraft was going slow enough so as to be almost completely stopped in 5 ft when the slide began. I feel like in some ways I am reporting a non-event. I guess I'm making this report because if someone had been in a hurry this morning an aircraft could have continued into the grass. I got my wake up call this morning. Winter conditions are here. Taxiway contamination is here. Temperature at the time was plus 3 degrees C. The ice was what is commonly referred to as 'black ice'. Not visible ice. I reported patchy ice on taxiway and runway to ATC as a PIREP. In 10 more minutes after I left it would have been lighter and more likely visible. This is a 'please learn from my experience today' report. As far as suggestions I guess it is time for or past time for the annual winter conditions are here; don't let winter catch you by surprise. Conditions vary widely in the service area of [our airline] and can be very different in the matter of a few hours or a few miles.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Q400 Captain reported sliding on black ice while turning on a taxiway and again on the runway. Only a slow cautious taxi speed prevented a taxiway excursion.

Narrative: I was taxiing to Runway 30 in the early part of morning twilight. As I approached the 90 degree turn on Taxiway A at the approach end of 30 the aircraft nose continued ahead about 4 or 5 more feet than I intended due to sliding on ice. I had slowed to about 6 MPH in anticipation of the turn and prior to the even beginning. During the slide I slowed to maybe 2 or 3 MPH and also using rudder and engine inputs regained nose traction and continued on A and onto the runway. Turning onto the runway the nose again slid about 5 FT as I was lining up on the center line. The reason that I am filing this report is two fold. 1. I am submitting because I was surprised by the event and I should not have been surprised. 2. I was exercising an abundance of caution (just ordinary it is dark and small taxiway caution - but not winter specific caution) and without this ordinary abundance of caution it could very well ended with an aircraft leaving the taxiway and onto grass. My taxi out from the terminal was slow and cautious probably averaging 12 to 15 KTS. It seemed like a dry or damp taxiway with good traction. I slowed well before the 90 degree turn on Taxiway A. It was a slow and cautious turn; just not an invisible ice covered taxiway slow and cautious turn. I have had a nose wheel lose traction many times in the past when I was expecting it; even sitting still with engine not running I've had aircraft slide across a ramp. I am experienced on ice having landed and taken off on frozen lakes and on ice covered runways and taxiways many times having grown up in and flown and lived in cold climates prior to working at [this Carrier]. I have quite a few winters at [this Carrier]. My experience is a non-issue. What is an issue were my expectations and that I had not mentally changed from a 'summer' to a 'winter' mental mode. All the signs were there for me to see. There were ice patches getting out of the van. The ramp had been deiced by the ground crew prior to the flight crew showing up; and the aircraft had been deiced. But; you see what you expect to see and the aircraft handled on the taxiway as if it were on dry pavement until it came time to turn. The aircraft was going slow enough so as to be almost completely stopped in 5 FT when the slide began. I feel like in some ways I am reporting a non-event. I guess I'm making this report because if someone had been in a hurry this morning an aircraft could have continued into the grass. I got my wake up call this morning. Winter conditions are here. Taxiway contamination is here. Temperature at the time was plus 3 degrees C. The ice was what is commonly referred to as 'black ice'. Not visible ice. I reported patchy ice on taxiway and runway to ATC as a PIREP. In 10 more minutes after I left it would have been lighter and more likely visible. This is a 'please learn from my experience today' report. As far as suggestions I guess it is time for or past time for the annual winter conditions are here; don't let winter catch you by surprise. Conditions vary widely in the service area of [our airline] and can be very different in the matter of a few hours or a few miles.

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.