Date: 201411
Local time of day: 0001-0600
Location: CRQ.Airport, CA
Light: Night
Aircraft: Small Aircraft
Operating under: Part 91
Flight phase: Taxi
ATC / advisory: Tower CRQ
Reporter organization: Government
Reporter qualification: Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Human factors: Distraction; Troubleshooting; Situational Awareness; Confusion
Second reporter function: Local
Anomaly: Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Conflict Ground Conflict; Less Severe; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Ground Incursion Runway
Detector: Person Air Traffic Control
When detected: Taxi
Result: Air Traffic Control Provided Assistance
Contributing factors: Aircraft; Human Factors; Procedure
Primary problem: Procedure

Narrative: Aircraft X exited the runway at November 2 and reported a flat right main.  The aircraft was still in the safety area; but clear of the runway edge.  This situation has happened in the past and our normal procedure would be to close the taxiway; give cautions to arriving and departing aircraft; per 7110.65 3-1-5 and 3-1-6. So I did what we normally do.  Operations asked if it was our policy to close the runway; I responded that I was not aware of ATC policy to close a runway because of a closed taxiway.  We often have vehicles; such as mowers; operations or tech ops near the runway edge; even closing taxiways for short periods and we just give traffic and continue with business as usual. I did not consider this situation to be fundamentally different.  A controller came up the stairs and advised that they were sure that it was illegal for us to use the runway in this situation.  There was some debate among the controllers during which time we canceled practice approaches and eventually stopped all arrivals and departures.  Fortunately Aircraft X was pushed out of the safety area just a few minutes later.  I called the ROC to see if they knew what the correct answer was since none of us could find a reference.  The ROC put me on the phone with a nice lady from QCG (unfortunately I did not write down her name) who advised me that a disabled aircraft in the safety area causes the runway to become 'unavailable' and gave me 7110.65 chapter 3 as a reference.  She said that we call it unavailable and do not allow any aircraft to use it; but only airport operations can actually close the runway.  I looked for an applicable reference in the 7110 and could not find it. In fact 3-1-5; 3-1-6 and 3-3-1 seem to suggest the opposite. During the time we were using the runway with the disabled Aircraft X north of it; I do not believe any unsafe operations took place.  My question is what is the reference for 'Unavailable runways.'  Why am I not familiar with this reference after working here for 8 years?  Can we have this rule changed?  What is the difference between closing a taxiway (for example) for a survey crew for 30 minutes vs a disabled aircraft?  In effect; we are saying that because of a closed taxiway; we have to discontinue all operations at our airport.  We need to take several aircraft in the pattern and send them away or juggle them in our airspace.  We also have to make approach reroute all of their IFR arrivals and delay all of our departures for what is essentially an unexpected taxiway closure.  In my opinion when one takes into account fuel considerations for these VFR aircraft and the extra workload for Local Control and Approach Control; it would be safer to continue operations to the runway.


Second narrative: Aircraft X exited the runway at November 2; intending to taxi back on November taxiway for additional closed pattern work.  Aircraft X  came to a halt after clearing the runway edge; prior to clearing the safety area. I had several aircraft in the pattern as well as inbound and outbound requests.  I asked my supervisor if I should continue operations to the runway.  He deemed it safe to continue takeoffs; full stop landings and low approaches; but to stop touch and go operations.  I continued working the traffic; issuing cautions to all aircraft about Aircraft X.  I am not sure if there was anything wrong with this.I would like to recommend clarification on the proper procedures to take should this occur again. We could not find a clear cut answer to this issue in our regulations.


Synopsis: CRQ Controllers report of an aircraft that gets a flat tire while exiting the runway but stops within the safety area of the runway.  Operations continue even though the aircraft is in the safety area.