While taxiing to their gate in low visibility at night; crew made a turn in the wrong direction; cro...

Narrative:

Flight was running an hour late into detroit. Weather at dtw was RVR T/D 1400 mid 2000 right/O 1600. Shot a CAT III autoland to 04L. Landing was uneventful. Prior to landing briefed taxi in plan using low vis taxi charts; planned runway exit A7 then V. Turned off as planned on A7. Tower said to turn onto a then V hold short of 04R. This was the first time the captain (me) had been to dtw. Visibility was extremely limited but safe to continue. I taxied onto A7 and then started to turn right on a instead of left - my first officer immediately corrected me and I corrected the error and turned left on a then right on V. As we approached runway 04R tower cleared us to cross runway 04R then contact ground; they told us there was an aircraft holding in position on 04R but we could not see the traffic. We turned on our exterior lights; crossed runway 04R; extinguished our exterior lights and the first officer contacted ground. Ground control told us to turn onto taxiway K to the ramp. We were on taxiway V and as we approached taxiway K my first officer said we should turn right on K; I initially thought we were supposed to go left but after the mistake I had already made while taxiing onto taxiway a; I thought I was in error again so turned right onto K. We taxied a short distance on in the fog; to the right I could see bright lights that I didn't make sense to me; I stopped the aircraft looked at the taxi chart again and realized we had taxied across runway 9L/27R. In front of us I could see the dim lights of another aircraft pointing toward us. Ground control contacted us and told us to hold our position; cleared the other aircraft to begin their taxi and turn right on taxiway U then cleared us to continue forward; turn right on U; right on Y; cross runway 9L then continue on Y to K5 and to ramp. We followed these instructions and taxied to the ramp without further issue. Runway 09L/27R was not an active runway at the time we crossed it. The visibility was restricted to the point that we could never see any part of the terminal or the terminal lights while taxiing in.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: While taxiing to their gate in low visibility at night; crew made a turn in the wrong direction; crossed a runway; and encountered another aircraft headed in the opposite direction. Ground Control issued revised clearances to both aircraft.

Narrative: Flight was running an hour late into Detroit. Weather at DTW was RVR T/D 1400 Mid 2000 R/O 1600. Shot a CAT III Autoland to 04L. Landing was uneventful. Prior to landing briefed taxi in plan using low vis taxi charts; planned runway exit A7 then V. Turned off as planned on A7. Tower said to turn onto A then V hold short of 04R. This was the first time the Captain (me) had been to DTW. Visibility was extremely limited but safe to continue. I taxied onto A7 and then started to turn right on A instead of left - my first officer immediately corrected me and I corrected the error and turned left on A then right on V. As we approached runway 04R tower cleared us to cross runway 04R then contact ground; they told us there was an aircraft holding in position on 04R but we could not see the traffic. We turned on our exterior lights; crossed runway 04R; extinguished our exterior lights and the first officer contacted ground. Ground Control told us to turn onto taxiway K to the ramp. We were on taxiway V and as we approached taxiway K my first officer said we should turn right on K; I initially thought we were supposed to go left but after the mistake I had already made while taxiing onto taxiway A; I thought I was in error again so turned right onto K. We taxied a short distance on in the fog; to the right I could see bright lights that I didn't make sense to me; I stopped the aircraft looked at the taxi chart again and realized we had taxied across runway 9L/27R. In front of us I could see the dim lights of another aircraft pointing toward us. Ground Control contacted us and told us to hold our position; cleared the other aircraft to begin their taxi and turn right on taxiway U then cleared us to continue forward; turn right on U; right on Y; cross Runway 9L then continue on Y to K5 and to ramp. We followed these instructions and taxied to the ramp without further issue. Runway 09L/27R was not an active runway at the time we crossed it. The visibility was restricted to the point that we could never see any part of the terminal or the terminal lights while taxiing in.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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	1315764
Time
Date	201512
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	DTW.Airport
State Reference	MI
Environment
Flight Conditions	IMC
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Large Transport Low Wing 2 Turbojet Eng
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Taxi
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 174
Person 2
Function	First Officer Pilot Not Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 171 Flight Crew Total 5110 Flight Crew Type 2738
Events
Anomaly	Conflict Ground Conflict Less Severe Deviation - Procedural Clearance Ground Incursion Runway

While taxiing to their gate in low visibility at night; crew made a turn in the wrong direction; crossed a runway; and encountered another aircraft headed in the opposite direction. Ground control issued revised clearances to both aircraft.