Today I was Ground ATC on KLAX on Expert.
The Tower ATC, instructed landed pilots that landed to ‘exit runway 25L, cross runway 25R and contact Ground’.
A large number of pilots however, exited their runway and then contact me, Ground ATC. They then request taxi to parking, before they had crossed the parallel runway. And before I knew it the were crossing 25R, and I nearly ghosted these guys for crossing a very busy departure runway without my permission.
Fortunately one pilot contact me here, and asked for clarification. Great! 👌🏼
The pilots argument was “Tower told me to cross after exit, so after I contact Ground I can cross without permission. What did I do wrong?”
For those who did not contact me, and received ‘you were not allowed to enter the runway’ or ‘please follow instructions’, read this:
Don’t ever cross a runway without permission of the ATC you are on.
When you are on Ground ATC crossing a busy runway without permission, you risk ghosting, no matter what Tower has told you.
When tower tells you to ‘exit and cross’ you stay in Tower frequency!
Here is tutorial info again:
One note here from me, where I may have caused confusion as Ground ATC:
There were two or three pilots, which had landed and stayed on Tower, and had stopped between the runways. I sent them On Guard messages, and I should not have done that. That causes confusion, as it’s very likely these pilots were on Tower frequency, holding short 25R and waiting for a cross instruction from Tower. I should not have sent this pilots Guard messages, as they were under Tower control.