After an already long day and facing one last leg departing early in the morning hours the flight cr...

Narrative:

In night VMC conditions we lined up on and inadvertently took off from the wrong runway. Santa ana has parallel runways; 19L and 19R. We mistook 19L for 19R. 19L is shorter (2;887 ft) and closed when the tower is not operating. 19R is the longer of the two (5;701 ft) and the preferred runway.upon reaching the end of the taxiway we turned onto 19L; I remember seeing and verifying the runway numbers but it did not register to us that I had said 19L when we; indeed; needed to be using 19R. I lined the plane up; stepped on the brakes; stood the power up and released the brakes. We used nearly every bit of the runway for takeoff. We did not; however; use any portion of the 400 ft overrun. It wasn't until we cleaned the plane up after our initial climb that we discussed the seemingly short takeoff run; discovered our error and realized the seriousness of the situation and the potential catastrophe we averted. It was a shock to both myself and my first officer that we both had failed to properly identify our intended runway of use.the problem was exacerbated by the lighting conditions; our lack of sleep; our failure to use the airport diagram to our advantage; our failure to recognize the runway markings and failure to back one another up as a fail safe. I had been awake for about 19 hours prior to the occurrence. I suspect the first officer had been up at least as long. Although the outcome was successful it was a scary lesson to learn. Always; always use the airport diagram before and while taxiing; always verify that the runway being used is in fact the runway of intended use; always take enough time to ensure a thorough thought process has been used to determine the correct course of action. I narrowly averted a potential disaster and the lessons learned are permanently seared into my memory.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: After an already long day and facing one last leg departing early in the morning hours the flight crew of a Lear 35 took off from the very short Runway 19L at SNA vice the twice as long 19R as intended.

Narrative: In night VMC conditions we lined up on and inadvertently took off from the wrong runway. Santa Ana has parallel runways; 19L and 19R. We mistook 19L for 19R. 19L is shorter (2;887 FT) and closed when the Tower is not operating. 19R is the longer of the two (5;701 FT) and the preferred runway.Upon reaching the end of the taxiway we turned onto 19L; I remember seeing and verifying the runway numbers but it did not register to us that I had said 19L when we; indeed; needed to be using 19R. I lined the plane up; stepped on the brakes; stood the power up and released the brakes. We used nearly every bit of the runway for takeoff. We did not; however; use any portion of the 400 FT overrun. It wasn't until we cleaned the plane up after our initial climb that we discussed the seemingly short takeoff run; discovered our error and realized the seriousness of the situation and the potential catastrophe we averted. It was a shock to both myself and my First Officer that we both had failed to properly identify our intended runway of use.The problem was exacerbated by the lighting conditions; our lack of sleep; our failure to use the airport diagram to our advantage; our failure to recognize the runway markings and failure to back one another up as a fail safe. I had been awake for about 19 hours prior to the occurrence. I suspect the First Officer had been up at least as long. Although the outcome was successful it was a scary lesson to learn. Always; always use the airport diagram before and while taxiing; always verify that the runway being used is in fact the runway of intended use; always take enough time to ensure a thorough thought process has been used to determine the correct course of action. I narrowly averted a potential disaster and the lessons learned are permanently seared into my memory.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 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.

Attributes
ACN	1043338
Time
Date	201210
Local Time Of Day	0001-0600
Place
Locale Reference	SNA.Airport
State Reference	CA
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Learjet 35
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 135
Flight Phase	Takeoff
Route In Use	Direct
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Multiengine
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 10 Flight Crew Total 3200 Flight Crew Type 1050
Person 2
Function	Pilot Not Flying First Officer
Qualification	Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Flight Instructor
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 42 Flight Crew Total 2150 Flight Crew Type 175
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Deviation - Procedural FAR Ground Incursion Runway

After an already long day and facing one last leg departing early in the morning hours the flight crew of a lear 35 took off from the very short runway 19L at sna vice the twice as long 19R as intended.