Narrative:

A citation jet was taxied out for a runway 35R at A16 intersection departure. It was snowing with visibility reduced to 1.5 miles and winds were gusting out the north approaching 25 KTS and the blowing snow was covering most of the east west connectors and obscuring the hold lines. The citation jet made the turn at A16 and I observed him cross the hold lines with his entire aircraft yet stop well clear of the runway. I hesitated to inform the 2 flm's on local; 1 [was] training and 1 instructing; because I had little faith the results would turn out satisfactorily or safely plus there was a certified ground controller/non-cpc working ground controller who was also oblivious to the situation. I knew the aircraft was well clear and would be no factor for the arrival but my conscience got to me. I informed the local controllers that the citation jet appeared to be completely across the hold line at which point the flm trainer picked up the binoculars and agreed with my observation. Instead of fixing it; he/she let the flm trainee try to fix it with guidance and it went downhill after that. She said lets see if he can side step (meaning the arrival) but the trainee quickly keyed up to cross the citation jet with the learjet inside a mile final. I yelled out no at the same time the flm trainer did and the trainee cancelled the crossing but that was too late as the citation jet hit the gas and began moving and then slid on the taxi up to the runway as the learjet was very short final and then they sent the learjet around. It didn't help that both flm's were sitting and not fully scanning the runway environment. I was on controller in charge and I was standing and walking around the tower keeping an eye on the operation. Do not have low time flm's training low time flm trainees in situations that could mean life and death. The first course of action should have been to send the learjet around as he was too close to sidestep to runway 35L. I should have spoken up sooner as the 5-10 seconds I knew about it could have given them the few seconds to make the correct call. Even in snowy conditions; the local controller needs to get off their seat and look to make sure their runways are clear and safe. When I was contemplating about informing them; they were both sitting down and not scanning the runway environment. I teach all of my trainees to stand while working for that very reason as it keeps you on your toes; of course having a radio in the tower helping to keep us awake during slow times would help as well.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Tower CIC described a go around event prompted by a departure crossing the runway hold line. Snow covering the taxiway was listed as a causal factor.

Narrative: A Citation jet was taxied out for a Runway 35R at A16 Intersection departure. It was snowing with visibility reduced to 1.5 miles and winds were gusting out the north approaching 25 KTS and the blowing snow was covering most of the east west connectors and obscuring the hold lines. The Citation jet made the turn at A16 and I observed him cross the hold lines with his entire aircraft yet stop well clear of the runway. I hesitated to inform the 2 FLM's on Local; 1 [was] training and 1 instructing; because I had little faith the results would turn out satisfactorily or safely plus there was a Certified Ground Controller/non-CPC working Ground Controller who was also oblivious to the situation. I knew the aircraft was well clear and would be no factor for the arrival but my conscience got to me. I informed the local controllers that the Citation jet appeared to be completely across the hold line at which point the FLM Trainer picked up the binoculars and agreed with my observation. Instead of fixing it; he/she let the FLM Trainee try to fix it with guidance and it went downhill after that. She said lets see if he can side step (meaning the arrival) but the Trainee quickly keyed up to cross the Citation jet with the Learjet inside a mile final. I yelled out no at the same time the FLM Trainer did and the trainee cancelled the crossing but that was too late as the Citation jet hit the gas and began moving and then slid on the taxi up to the runway as the Learjet was very short final and then they sent the Learjet around. It didn't help that both FLM's were sitting and not fully scanning the runway environment. I was on CIC and I was standing and walking around the Tower keeping an eye on the operation. Do not have low time FLM's training low time FLM trainees in situations that could mean life and death. The first course of action should have been to send the Learjet around as he was too close to sidestep to Runway 35L. I should have spoken up sooner as the 5-10 seconds I knew about it could have given them the few seconds to make the correct call. Even in snowy conditions; the Local Controller needs to get off their seat and look to make sure their runways are clear and safe. When I was contemplating about informing them; they were both sitting down and not scanning the runway environment. I teach all of my trainees to stand while working for that very reason as it keeps you on your toes; of course having a radio in the Tower helping to keep us awake during slow times would help as well.

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.