Narrative:

While taxiing down runway 15 and told to taxi runway 15; kilo; into the block of runway 19; it became apparent we were passing kilo and not going to make the turn. Ground called us the same time I advised the captain of missing kilo; and instructed us to simply follow an aircraft and take juliet into the block of runway 19. The sudden realization of missing the taxiway coupled with the instruction from ground to turn left onto J made the captain make a sharp left turn instantly; rather than following the yellow line off the runway onto J. I realized we were far short of the turn off and yelled stop as it became apparent we were going to hit runway edge lights and possibly go into the grass. The aircraft stopped with the nose gear on the white paint of the edge of the runway. The captain quickly said 'I can fix this' and brought up the power on the right engine while turning the tiller full right to make the sharp right turn. As the power came up on the right engine the aircraft did not turn and instead jumped a few more feet forward getting us closer to the lights and grass. I advised ground we needed to start another engine before we could taxi and we did. The captain used the left engine and right tiller to maneuver the airplane back onto the runway and exit at J. There was no damage to the lights or the aircraft. I asked if the nose gear tires would be safe for takeoff and landing and the captain was sure they would be. We departed and landed without incident. The taxiway markings being unclear; and darkness at night made it difficult to identify the original route we were supposed to take. The startle factor of being told by ground we missed a taxiway seemed to be the reason for the captains response to quickly turn left.from the direction we were taxiing there are absolutely no visible signs designated taxiway kilo when on runway 15. The chart also depicts grass where there is actually pavement and simply painted lines adding to the confusing between taxiway south and K. Location signs placed on the east side of runways 15 for kilo would help a lot.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air Carrier First Officer reported missing the proper taxi route to runway 19 at DCA due to signage and darkness.

Narrative: While taxiing down Runway 15 and told to taxi Runway 15; Kilo; into the block of Runway 19; it became apparent we were passing Kilo and not going to make the turn. Ground called us the same time I advised the Captain of missing Kilo; and instructed us to simply follow an aircraft and take Juliet into the block of Runway 19. The sudden realization of missing the taxiway coupled with the instruction from ground to turn left onto J made the Captain make a sharp left turn instantly; rather than following the yellow line off the runway onto J. I realized we were far short of the turn off and yelled STOP as it became apparent we were going to hit runway edge lights and possibly go into the grass. The aircraft stopped with the nose gear on the white paint of the edge of the runway. The Captain quickly said 'I can fix this' and brought up the power on the right engine while turning the tiller full right to make the sharp right turn. As the power came up on the right engine the aircraft did not turn and instead jumped a few more feet forward getting us closer to the lights and grass. I advised ground we needed to start another engine before we could taxi and we did. The Captain used the left engine and right tiller to maneuver the airplane back onto the runway and exit at J. There was no damage to the lights or the aircraft. I asked if the nose gear tires would be safe for takeoff and landing and the Captain was sure they would be. We departed and landed without incident. The taxiway markings being unclear; and darkness at night made it difficult to identify the original route we were supposed to take. The startle factor of being told by ground we missed a taxiway seemed to be the reason for the Captains response to quickly turn left.From the direction we were taxiing there are absolutely no visible signs designated Taxiway Kilo when on Runway 15. The chart also depicts grass where there is actually pavement and simply painted lines adding to the confusing between taxiway S and K. Location signs placed on the east side of Runways 15 for Kilo would help a lot.

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.