Inspired from one of the posts in the ‘biggest mistake’ thread I would like to ask for your opinions and experience. Similar to the post in the other thread, I once was friendly but firmly told off over radio for not vacating the RWY quickly enough at EDDH. The situation was the following: As I’m in the process of getting familiar with EDDH as my homebase I try to play by the (informal) rules and act proactively to minimise the workload the controllers have with us from the local club. That time it didn’t work out. I landed short on the 05 to vacate via the first taxiway, but hesitated to vacate because I didn’t get a clearance/instructions as usual. Instead I carried on very slowly, as I just had put on the breaks for making it on to the first taxiway without tires squealing. You can guess the rest, first I was quickly reminded to vacate asap and afap (as fast as possible) and after making it onto the taxiway the explanation followed. Fair enough and in hindsight quite face palm worthy.
My question now is, until where are you actually expected and allowed to vacate? Are these situations common where you don’t receive any taxi instructions after landing but are expected to actually pass the holding point onto a taxiway without clearance?
but hesitated to vacate because I didn’t get a clearance/instructions as usual.
You don’t need a taxy clearance to vacate the runway. Rather, (in the absence of any different instruction before landing) you are expected to vacate an active runway as soon as possible after landing. Your PPL training should have covered that. Sad it seems it hasn’t.
boscomantico wrote:
Your PPL training should have covered that. Sad it seems it hasn’t.
I cannot say it hasn’t. I assume rather that in this situation I was having doubts and didn’t make the right decision. Also, after several landings at controlled airports this was a first, maybe due to the fact that I landed quite short and this was not expected by controllers. So in the end this means I am always and in any sitauation allowed to vacate completely until after the holding point and enter the taxiway?
At big airports you are supposed to taxi off the runway until you cross the double lines
You are not “off the runway” until you cross that mark. I have been bollocked by ATC for making that same mistake, because at small airfields nobody cares.
One of the reasons is that the metal in your plane can affect the ILS signal pattern, for the next plane landing.
Once you have crossed that mark, you have to stop and wait there until you get further instructions (a taxi clearance) or what is obviously a FOLLOW ME car arrives.
Above pic is from EDDH, but it has a number of these places.
The protocol is to completely pass the hold short lines, then stop and get taxi instructions before proceeding. After landing you do not switch to ground frequency (if applicable) until the entire aircraft is completely past the hold short lines, therefore you cannot receive a taxi instruction until that point.
Runway hold short lines are dotted on the runway side to show that they are not hold short lines when approached from the runway side.
Peter wrote:
Once you have crossed that mark, you have to stop and wait there until you get further instructions (a taxi clearance) or what is obviously a FOLLOW ME car arrives.
Right, so the area between runway and taxiway is of course the holding point area, where you don’t need clearance for after landing. And not directly the taxiway. From the viewpoint of taxing TO the runway, I have never neglected this area (run up, set up etc.), but after landing this didn’t come to mind 
There is no area between the runway and taxiway. The taxiway parallel to the runway may be called for example Taxiway A (alpha), and the short stubs from A to the runways are called A1, A2 etc… and are equally active taxiways. After landing, cross the hold short line from the dotted line side, enter (for example) Taxiway A2 and obtain instructions to proceed from there. A typical taxi request would be “clear of 05 at A2, request taxi to fuel”
The above is simple, but if you find yourself landing on one of two parallel runways, after vacating the runway to the area between the runways you will cross from the dotted side of the first runway hold short line, then immediately find yourself facing the solid side of a second runway hold short line. Do not switch to ground frequency and do not cross that second line from the solid side until the tower clears you. After you cross the third set of hold short lines on the far side of the parallel runway, then call ground.
I can understand the hesitation. At a big airport vacating at the wrong taxiway could cause quite some trouble (airlines cannot pass and must be moved around, etc.) so ATC might actually get very angry if you suddenly appear at the wrong place. In Zurich we usually vacate at the first possible taxiway but I think I once had to taxi to the next one. In order to avoid any issues I have built the habit of asking immediately after slowing down to taxi speed “Confirm exit to the left, taxiway J”, answer comes at once “Afirm”, so no misunderstanding. I’ve never had a problem of ATC being unhappy that I asked.
There are airports with no taxiways. Then you often need to backtrack which needs a clearance as far as I know (I have always been given a clearance/permission to backtrack). It doesn’t matter if you land or take off. I agree on bigger airports with heavy jets, nothing upsets the ATC more than destroying their logistics. Taxing in at the wrong place at the wrong time (possibly ending front to front with a Boeing), is much worse than hesitating a little.
I tend to do the same. If in any doubt vacate at the first safe exit (typically not a back on yourself high speed exit). But I generally tell the tower, Nxxxx vacating A4. They then always say call ground 12xxxxx.
But exiting the runway get your whole plane over that line.
