Narrative:

During taxi out; ramp control told us to taxi to spot 4. I asked my first officer to check where spot 4 was. He referred to the ramp chart and said it was the next taxiway. We stopped there and called ground; advising him we were at spot 4. Ground asked 'where are you?' we stated we thought we were at spot 4 and mentioned the cross taxiway we were at. Even though we both had reading glasses on; we finally turned on the thunderstorm lights so we could see the tiny print on the taxi chart and realized that we were at spot 2. Ground told us to taxi via foxtrot/echo; cross runway 5; and taxi to runway 36C.we had turned the thunderstorm lights off again so we could taxi and I looked on the taxi chart in the dim light again and saw what appeared to be a taxiway with an 'F' on it and it was right in front of us so it made perfect sense. I began pulling off the ramp to enter that taxiway. Looking outside I saw the lighted signs indicating that the taxiway we were about to pull onto was actually echo. I stopped the plane at the same time ground called us; in a very gruff; upset voice; to tell us we couldn't exit the ramp there and asked if we could do a 180. We replied no and he told us to hold position. After a couple of planes taxied by he told us to taxi via echo; cross runway 5; and taxi to runway 36C.I just passed my FAA medical only a few days before with no restrictions so vision is not to blame here. It seems to me; however; that the ability for anyone to read the near microscopic printing on taxi charts in the very dim lighting in an MD80 cockpit at night is almost impossible. I should have stopped the plane; held up whoever was behind me; turned on all the lights and made sure where we were; where we were supposed to go; and make a plan to get there before moving the plane. In actuality; we thought we were following ATC instructions; we had just misread the chart due to poor lighting; and poor sized graphics on the taxi chart.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An MD80 Flight Crew experienced a taxiway incursion and failed to follow Ground Control's clearance when they were unable to read the airport chart accurately due to the small font and the poor cockpit lighting.

Narrative: During taxi out; Ramp Control told us to taxi to Spot 4. I asked my First Officer to check where Spot 4 was. He referred to the ramp chart and said it was the next taxiway. We stopped there and called Ground; advising him we were at Spot 4. Ground asked 'where are you?' We stated we thought we were at Spot 4 and mentioned the cross taxiway we were at. Even though we both had reading glasses on; we finally turned on the thunderstorm lights so we could see the tiny print on the taxi chart and realized that we were at Spot 2. Ground told us to taxi via Foxtrot/Echo; cross Runway 5; and taxi to Runway 36C.We had turned the thunderstorm lights off again so we could taxi and I looked on the taxi chart in the dim light again and saw what appeared to be a taxiway with an 'F' on it and it was right in front of us so it made perfect sense. I began pulling off the ramp to enter that taxiway. Looking outside I saw the lighted signs indicating that the taxiway we were about to pull onto was actually Echo. I stopped the plane at the same time Ground called us; in a very gruff; upset voice; to tell us we couldn't exit the ramp there and asked if we could do a 180. We replied no and he told us to hold position. After a couple of planes taxied by he told us to taxi via Echo; cross Runway 5; and taxi to Runway 36C.I just passed my FAA medical only a few days before with no restrictions so vision is not to blame here. It seems to me; however; that the ability for anyone to read the near microscopic printing on taxi charts in the very dim lighting in an MD80 cockpit at night is almost impossible. I should have stopped the plane; held up whoever was behind me; turned on all the lights and made sure where we were; where we were supposed to go; and make a plan to get there before moving the plane. In actuality; we thought we were following ATC instructions; we had just misread the chart due to poor lighting; and poor sized graphics on the taxi chart.

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.