Narrative:

This event was a situation that almost led to a runway incursion. Myself and the sic had a very early start to the day (4am show) and are not a crew that normally flies together. These may have nothing to do with the incident; but both are worth noting. We had a position leg to agc where we picked up passengers at the FBO. We received a clearance to taxi to RW28 via taxiway alpha and had been cleared to cross RW13-31. An airplane was taking off on RW28 as we were taxiing. We were the only two aircraft on the airport in motion. I am unsure whether ground and tower were combined on the same frequency. We have jepps built into the avionics on our aircraft and the appropriate airport diagram was displayed with the aircraft depicted at the time. As we exited; I taxied perpendicular to taxiway alpha; so as not to shortcut across the ramp. As we approach alpha; we never saw a sign for alpha and actually taxied unknowingly onto A3. We had mistaken RW13-31 for taxiway a. As we approached runway RW13-31; we realized our error and stopped the aircraft short of runway 13-31. This took place at the A3 taxiway. Because of A3's close proximity to the runway and the ground controller's lack of knowledge of our intent to stop; he instructed us to stop. At that time we were almost at a complete stop. We never crossed onto the runway until we were cleared to taxi on it afterwards. This was all located in a hotspot on the diagram (HS1). I feel that when I became convinced that runway 13-31 was the taxiway that I was looking at; I became fixated on this and did not take heed from the rest of the information that I had to use. We did not brief the hotspots before or during the taxi; which now seems like a prudent thing to do. The lack of delineation of ramp to taxiway also contributed to my confusion. Nowhere is there any signage to show taxiway a from the direction that I came. The fact that I chose to take the perpendicular route to the taxiway still seems to be a prudent thing to do; but added to my fixation on the taxiway. Looking at the diagram it seems like this would not be possible; but I am afraid it was. In addition; the fact that the sic had his head down for part of the taxi; to read a checklist; contributed to the confusion once he looked up. He had to reevaluate our current position and figure out what my intentions were. Also the fact that we both were not paying 100% attention to the taxi; while operating in close proximity to a runway; took away the doubling checking that would have been there if we had both been paying attention.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Light transport flight crew taxied onto Taxiway A3 towards Runway 13-31 at AGC after mistaking the runway for Taxiway A.

Narrative: This event was a situation that almost led to a runway incursion. Myself and the SIC had a very early start to the day (4am show) and are not a crew that normally flies together. These may have nothing to do with the incident; but both are worth noting. We had a position leg to AGC where we picked up passengers at the FBO. We received a clearance to taxi to RW28 via Taxiway Alpha and had been cleared to cross RW13-31. An airplane was taking off on RW28 as we were taxiing. We were the only two aircraft on the airport in motion. I am unsure whether ground and tower were combined on the same frequency. We have Jepps built into the avionics on our aircraft and the appropriate airport diagram was displayed with the aircraft depicted at the time. As we exited; I taxied perpendicular to Taxiway Alpha; so as not to shortcut across the ramp. As we approach Alpha; we never saw a sign for Alpha and actually taxied unknowingly onto A3. We had mistaken RW13-31 for taxiway A. As we approached runway RW13-31; we realized our error and stopped the aircraft short of Runway 13-31. This took place at the A3 taxiway. Because of A3's close proximity to the runway and the ground controller's lack of knowledge of our intent to stop; he instructed us to stop. At that time we were almost at a complete stop. We never crossed onto the runway until we were cleared to taxi on it afterwards. This was all located in a Hotspot on the diagram (HS1). I feel that when I became convinced that runway 13-31 was the taxiway that I was looking at; I became fixated on this and did not take heed from the rest of the information that I had to use. We did not brief the hotspots before or during the taxi; which now seems like a prudent thing to do. The lack of delineation of ramp to taxiway also contributed to my confusion. Nowhere is there any signage to show taxiway A from the direction that I came. The fact that I chose to take the perpendicular route to the taxiway still seems to be a prudent thing to do; but added to my fixation on the taxiway. Looking at the diagram it seems like this would not be possible; but I am afraid it was. In addition; the fact that the SIC had his head down for part of the taxi; to read a checklist; contributed to the confusion once he looked up. He had to reevaluate our current position and figure out what my intentions were. Also the fact that we both were not paying 100% attention to the taxi; while operating in close proximity to a runway; took away the doubling checking that would have been there if we had both been paying attention.

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.