Date: 201303
Local time of day: 1201-1800
Location: ZZZ.Airport, US
Weather elements / visibility: Snow
Light: Daylight
Aircraft: Cessna Single Piston Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operator: Personal
Operating under: Part 91
Flight plan: VFR
Mission: Personal
Flight phase: Taxi
ATC / advisory: Tower ZZZ
Second aircraft: Small Aircraft
Reporter organization: Personal
Reporter function: Pilot Not Flying
Reporter qualification: Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Private
Human factors: Communication Breakdown; Confusion; Distraction; Situational Awareness
Anomaly: Conflict Ground Conflict; Critical; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Clearance; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Detector: Person Flight Crew
When detected: Taxi
Result: Flight Crew Took Evasive Action
Contributing factors: Airport; Human Factors; Procedure
Primary problem: Human Factors

Narrative: Pilot flying was taxiing a Cessna C-162 aircraft from one side of runway to other side to refuel aircraft. Pilot held short of Runway XX at Foxtrot as instructed and called Tower for permission to cross. Tower instructed pilot flying to hold short Runway XX for traffic taking off. Transmission was noisy and distorted; but understood by pilot not flying; who also had heard previous clearance takeoff on Runway XX for another aircraft. Pilot flying acknowledged using only aircraft call sign (non-standard read-back). Tower Controller failed to challenge pilot's failure to acknowledge the hold short instruction. Pilot flying did not understand the hold short instruction and then stated; 'so we cross now' and added power to cross Runway XX. Pilot not flying stepped on the brakes; pulled the power to idle and stopped the aircraft movement; exclaiming 'No; not yet; there is traffic'. Approximately five seconds later a tan Cessna looking aircraft flew by Foxtrot Intersection at eye level on its' takeoff. There are large berms of snow piled on the side of the runway that completely block vision from Taxiway Foxtrot hold-short point beyond 50 to 100 FT down the runway; so it is impossible to visually determine approaching traffic on the runway as you start to taxi out onto the runway. Last year; Tower Controllers [here] made a huge fuss with taxiing aircraft; requiring them to read-back all taxi-to and hold-short clearances using a very specific format. I have noticed that active pilots at this airport (myself included) have improved the quality of their read-backs as a result. But recently this winter I've noticed a crop of (new?) Controllers at the Tower and they have stopped 'calling us out' when read-backs are less than perfect. If I had not been accompanying the pilot flying on this occasion; I suspect the communications failure on both the pilot flying and the Tower Controller's part would have led to a possibly fatal runway collision on Runway XX at Intersection Foxtrot. This near miss left the pilot flying and pilot not flying quite shaken at the possible outcome of this communications breakdown. I have instructed and drilled the pilot flying on read-back methods and the importance of monitoring Tower frequency to gather situational awareness of traffic movement on the airport. Tower Controllers [here] need to step-up their game and call us pilots out; when we fail to perform to the standards.




Synopsis: A Cessna C-162 aircraft non-flying pilot reports how the lack of a clear read-back by the pilot flying to a Tower Controller for runway crossing clearance contributed to a near miss with another aircraft taking off. Snow piled high on side of runway completely blocking vision from taxiway also a factor.