An instructor pilot reported that his student departed tus taxiway D enroute to an FBO and prior to ...

Attributes
ACN	896191
Time
Date	201006
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	TUS.Airport
State Reference	AZ
Environment
Light	Dusk
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Small Aircraft Low Wing 1 Eng Fixed Gear
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Taxi
Person 1
Function	Instructor Pilot Not Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Commercial Flight Crew Flight Instructor
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 250 Flight Crew Total 3000 Flight Crew Type 1000
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Clearance Ground Event / Encounter Other / Unknown Ground Excursion Taxiway

Narrative:

Aircraft was cleared to taxi via taxiway D to our FBO by tus ground control. Once the FBO was in sight student proceeded to make the right turn onto an adjacent uncontrolled ramp area. Once on the ramp student turned to the left to proceed towards the ramp. Once the aircraft was turned to the left student noticed with the help of the landing light on the aircraft that he was not on an area approved for aircraft but on the access road that parallel the ramp area. Student proceeded with caution to taxi to the approved aircraft taxi area approx. 20 yards. Contributing factors to this event; poor airport lighting; access road signage missing; ramp markings worn and hard to identify. No damage to aircraft; persons or property occurred.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An Instructor Pilot reported that his Student departed TUS Taxiway D enroute to an FBO and prior to reaching the ramp taxied onto a road. The dusk conditions; and alleged lack of lighting; signage; worn and missing ramp marking contributed to the excursion.

Narrative: Aircraft was cleared to taxi via Taxiway D to our FBO by TUS Ground Control. Once the FBO was in sight student proceeded to make the right turn onto an adjacent uncontrolled ramp area. Once on the ramp student turned to the left to proceed towards the ramp. Once the aircraft was turned to the left student noticed with the help of the landing light on the aircraft that he was not on an area approved for aircraft but on the access road that parallel the ramp area. Student proceeded with caution to taxi to the approved aircraft taxi area approx. 20 yards. Contributing factors to this event; poor airport lighting; access road signage missing; ramp markings worn and hard to identify. No damage to aircraft; persons or property occurred.

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.

An instructor pilot reported that his student departed tus taxiway D enroute to an FBO and prior to reaching the ramp taxied onto a road. The dusk conditions; and alleged lack of lighting; signage; worn and missing ramp marking contributed to the excursion.