An A320 departing the ramp made a rapid stop to avoid collision with an aircraft entering the ramp f...

Narrative:

Normal pre-departure planning and preparation for departure from den. Aircraft was pushed back and salute received per normal sops. Ramp control was called for taxi for runway 8 departure and received 'cleared to taxi; contact ground.' pilots cleared left and right visually and captain advanced throttles and turned right to taxi east. Approximately 30 degrees into that turn my copilot looked right again and quickly said 'wait; wait stop' and captain brought aircraft quickly to a stop mid turn. A large jet was pulling into the gate adjacent to us and we nearly crossed his path and would have likely come nose to nose were it not for the quick action and vigilance of my first officer. A follow up call to ramp control to bring his attention to our near ground incursion was not productive and his comments reflected that he had checked the computer screen and did not believe the incoming aircraft would be there yet. We were not of the impression he had visually ensured we were in fact clear and thus the near incursion. This event is reported in hopes of highlighting the safety concern for all involved and to ensure that those providing taxi clearances actually visually confirm our safe path before clearing us to proceed in a direction we cannot see from the cockpit.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An A320 departing the ramp made a rapid stop to avoid collision with an aircraft entering the ramp for taxi to a nearby gate. Ramp Control did not know the arriving aircraft was on the ramp.

Narrative: Normal pre-departure planning and preparation for departure from DEN. Aircraft was pushed back and salute received per normal SOPs. Ramp control was called for taxi for Runway 8 departure and received 'Cleared to taxi; contact ground.' Pilots cleared left and right visually and Captain advanced throttles and turned right to taxi east. Approximately 30 degrees into that turn my Copilot looked right again and quickly said 'Wait; Wait STOP' and Captain brought aircraft quickly to a stop mid turn. A large jet was pulling into the gate adjacent to us and we nearly crossed his path and would have likely come nose to nose were it not for the quick action and vigilance of my First Officer. A follow up call to Ramp Control to bring his attention to our near ground incursion was not productive and his comments reflected that he had checked the computer screen and did not believe the incoming aircraft would be there yet. We were not of the impression he had visually ensured we were in fact clear and thus the near incursion. This event is reported in hopes of highlighting the safety concern for all involved and to ensure that those providing taxi clearances actually visually confirm our safe path before clearing us to proceed in a direction we cannot see from the cockpit.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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	849381
Time
Date	200908
Local Time Of Day	0001-0600
Place
Locale Reference	DEN.Airport
State Reference	CO
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	A320
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Taxi
Aircraft 2
Make Model Name	Widebody Low Wing 2 Turbojet Eng
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Taxi
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 90 Flight Crew Total 11510 Flight Crew Type 754
Events
Anomaly	Conflict Ground Conflict Less Severe Ground Event / Encounter Aircraft

An A320 departing the ramp made a rapid stop to avoid collision with an aircraft entering the ramp for taxi to a nearby gate. Ramp control did not know the arriving aircraft was on the ramp.