Narrative:

I was monitoring a developmental on local west. Aircraft Y; a C206 was cleared for takeoff on runway 4L. Air carrier Z was holding short of the runway 4L approach awaiting further instruction to runway 9. Air carrier X was holding short of runway 4L on runway 33R. Air carrier west was holding short of runway 4L on taxiway echo awaiting instructions to runway 9. The developmental instructed air carrier Z to taxi to runway 9 via bravo and mike. The pilot acknowledged and at the same time another aircraft acknowledged. Aircraft Y was on departure roll. Due to 2 other aircraft holding short of runway 4L with similar call signs; the trainee attempted to talk to air carrier west due to the closeness in call signs and the asde-X went off due to air carrier X crossing runway 4L down field. The C206 was airborne and turning northbound at the time of the alert. The developmental never used the words 'cross runway 4L'; during his transmission to either aircraft; only taxi was used. Recommendation; company call signs may need to be addressed so that we don't have similar flight call signs in and out at same time. As controllers we are required to complete computer based training on hear back read back so that we don't hear what we want instead of what is actually said. A refresher on the same lesson might be helpful for the pilots as well. We often get use to a sequence of transmissions. In this case; I believe air carrier X heard what he expected to hear because the taxi instructions for his outbound company aircraft (air carrier Z) did not correlate to where he was on the airfield. The word cross was not used in the transmissions involving both pilots. The only words used were taxi to.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: BOS Local controller providing OJT described a ground conflict event when an air carrier entered a runway with traffic departing; similar flight numbers were listed as a casual factor.

Narrative: I was monitoring a developmental on Local West. Aircraft Y; a C206 was cleared for takeoff on Runway 4L. Air Carrier Z was holding short of the Runway 4L approach awaiting further instruction to Runway 9. Air Carrier X was holding short of Runway 4L on Runway 33R. Air Carrier W was holding short of Runway 4L on Taxiway Echo awaiting instructions to Runway 9. The developmental instructed Air Carrier Z to taxi to Runway 9 via Bravo and Mike. The pilot acknowledged and at the same time another aircraft acknowledged. Aircraft Y was on departure roll. Due to 2 other aircraft holding short of Runway 4L with similar call signs; the trainee attempted to talk to Air Carrier W due to the closeness in call signs and the ASDE-X went off due to Air Carrier X crossing Runway 4L down field. The C206 was airborne and turning northbound at the time of the alert. The developmental never used the words 'Cross Runway 4L'; during his transmission to either aircraft; only taxi was used. Recommendation; company call signs may need to be addressed so that we don't have similar flight call signs in and out at same time. As controllers we are required to complete computer based training on hear back read back so that we don't hear what we want instead of what is actually said. A refresher on the same lesson might be helpful for the pilots as well. We often get use to a sequence of transmissions. In this case; I believe Air Carrier X heard what he expected to hear because the taxi instructions for his outbound company aircraft (Air Carrier Z) did not correlate to where he was on the airfield. The word cross was not used in the transmissions involving both pilots. The only words used were taxi to.

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.