Narrative:

We were departing ord. We got off the gate on time and had a long taxi towards the north port. At the north port we waited for taxi instructions from ground control. He cleared us via a right turn onto taxiway gulf. Both my first officer and I wrote these instructions on our scratch paper. When I looked across the ramp towards taxiway gulf it appeared that I had to go through the intersection straight ahead to enter gulf. I proceeded forward into the intersection thinking I was about to enter taxiway gulf. To my horror I realized that I had just crossed onto runway 9R which was an active runway. I tried to make a 180 degree turn back to the right but my forward progress had already taken me onto the runway. So I stopped and waited for ground control to move us out of the way. Ground control then taxied us down the runway to exit onto taxiway mike and then over to the a pad. Not exactly sure where the a pad was at this point we made another wrong turn on taxiway gulf. Ground control then directed us to the penalty box where we regrouped. None of this would have happened if I had realized that taxiway gulf ran parallel to and on the north end of the ramp. From my perspective the airport signage was confusing and contributed somewhat to the event. My taxi chart was open and available on my electronic flight bag; however with the chart at full magnification it can still be difficult to understand. If our efb would have had the GPS taxi information available to me I doubt seriously this event would have ever happened. Threats include a high workload environment; rapid and consuming clearances from controllers; poor signage; poor taxi charts; and division of duties within the cockpit. As for me better situational awareness of runways. The company could improve our electronic flight bag capabilities. ATC could issue our clearances slower and more user friendly.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air Carrier flight crew reported runway incursion due to confusion with signage; EFB; and ATC delivery.

Narrative: We were departing ORD. We got off the gate on time and had a long taxi towards the North Port. At the North Port we waited for taxi instructions from ground control. He cleared us via a right turn onto taxiway Gulf. Both my First Officer and I wrote these instructions on our scratch paper. When I looked across the ramp towards taxiway Gulf it appeared that I had to go through the intersection straight ahead to enter Gulf. I proceeded forward into the intersection thinking I was about to enter taxiway Gulf. To my horror I realized that I had just crossed onto Runway 9R which was an active runway. I tried to make a 180 degree turn back to the right but my forward progress had already taken me onto the runway. So I stopped and waited for ground control to move us out of the way. Ground Control then taxied us down the runway to exit onto taxiway Mike and then over to the A Pad. Not exactly sure where the A Pad was at this point we made another wrong turn on taxiway Gulf. Ground Control then directed us to the Penalty Box where we regrouped. None of this would have happened if I had realized that taxiway Gulf ran parallel to and on the North end of the ramp. From my perspective the airport signage was confusing and contributed somewhat to the event. My taxi chart was open and available on my Electronic Flight Bag; however with the chart at full magnification it can still be difficult to understand. If our EFB would have had the GPS taxi information available to me I doubt seriously this event would have ever happened. Threats include a high workload environment; rapid and consuming clearances from controllers; poor signage; poor taxi charts; and division of duties within the cockpit. As for me better situational awareness of runways. The company could improve our Electronic Flight Bag capabilities. ATC could issue our clearances slower and more user friendly.

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.