Narrative:

This has happened before and I believe it is only a matter of time that something catastrophic can happen. Our runways are close together; and air carriers are procedurally told to hold short of lima; which keeps them parallel to the runways. The local 1 controller crosses them across our small runway (runway 19L) and taxi's them to our big runway (19R). In this situation ground told flight X 'runway 19R hold position; contact tower 126.8. Flight X should have stayed put; because his location; after he pushed; is right where we want him. I was on local 1 and observed him turning the corner and attempting to cross runway 19L with an aircraft on final. I reached out and told him to hold position. When I contacted him; he stopped. When I had a chance I told him that his instructions were to hold short of lima; and he said the ground controller indicated hold position so he was going into position. The phraseology to advise a pilot to stay put is 'hold position' which is very similar to 'position and hold.' I have seen pilots mistake this repeatedly and it is only a matter of time that it causes an event. It was not the pilots fault in my opinion; it is the phraseology. Recommendation; change the 'stay put' phraseology to something like 'hold there' or 'hold your current position.' when an aircraft is moving allow us to say the word 'stop' instead of hold position because that doesn't make any sense.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: SNA Controller voiced concern regarding published phraseology; 'hold position' vs. 'position and hold'; suggesting flight crews are subject to confusing the similar phraseology as happened in this case.

Narrative: This has happened before and I believe it is only a matter of time that something catastrophic can happen. Our runways are close together; and air carriers are procedurally told to hold short of Lima; which keeps them parallel to the runways. The Local 1 Controller crosses them across our small runway (Runway 19L) and taxi's them to our big runway (19R). In this situation Ground told Flight X 'Runway 19R hold position; contact tower 126.8. Flight X should have stayed put; because his location; after he pushed; is right where we want him. I was on Local 1 and observed him turning the corner and attempting to cross Runway 19L with an aircraft on final. I reached out and told him to hold position. When I contacted him; he stopped. When I had a chance I told him that his instructions were to hold short of Lima; and he said the ground controller indicated hold position so he was going into position. The phraseology to advise a pilot to stay put is 'hold position' which is very similar to 'position and hold.' I have seen pilots mistake this repeatedly and it is only a matter of time that it causes an event. It was not the pilots fault in my opinion; it is the phraseology. Recommendation; change the 'stay put' phraseology to something like 'hold there' or 'hold your current position.' When an aircraft is moving allow us to say the word 'stop' instead of hold position because that doesn't make any sense.

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.