Tus local controller described a potential runway conflict when clearing an aircraft for takeoff on ...

Narrative:

An airport vehicle was doing the morning FOD inspection on runway 11R. A bonanza called ready holding short of runway 21 at taxiway B. I told the BE35 to cross runway 21 at B and cleared him for takeoff on runway 11R. As the BE35 was rolling I looked down the runway and observed the airport vehicle holding short of runway 11R at taxiway A8. The airport vehicle must have heard my transmission and exited the runway prior to the BE35 taking off. Recommendation; we have visual aids; but we have numerous vehicles on the runways in the morning and the airport vehicles take way too long to complete their inspections.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: TUS Local Controller described a potential runway conflict when clearing an aircraft for takeoff on a runway that had previously been released for inspection to an airport vehicle. The vehicle cleared the runway prior to the takeoff.

Narrative: An airport vehicle was doing the morning FOD inspection on Runway 11R. A Bonanza called ready holding short of Runway 21 at Taxiway B. I told the BE35 to cross Runway 21 at B and cleared him for takeoff on Runway 11R. As the BE35 was rolling I looked down the runway and observed the airport vehicle holding short of Runway 11R at Taxiway A8. The airport vehicle must have heard my transmission and exited the runway prior to the BE35 taking off. Recommendation; we have visual aids; but we have numerous vehicles on the runways in the morning and the airport vehicles take way too long to complete their inspections.

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	901165
Time
Date	201007
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	TUS.Airport
State Reference	AZ
Environment
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Bonanza 35
Flight Phase	Takeoff
Flight Plan	VFR
Person 1
Function	Handoff / Assist Local
Qualification	Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Ground Event / Encounter Vehicle

Tus local controller described a potential runway conflict when clearing an aircraft for takeoff on a runway that had previously been released for inspection to an airport vehicle. The vehicle cleared the runway prior to the takeoff.