Narrative:

An airport operations vehicle called on my frequency to close runway 6/24. I gave the runway to operations as requested and continued to work my traffic and perform the other necessary duties; (i.e. Making log entries and cutting a new ATIS); as I was working all positions combined at the time. While doing this I forgot to post the runway 6/24 closed memory aid into my bay at local control. About 20 minutes later aircraft X called for taxi and requested a southeast bound VFR departure. I taxied the aircraft to runway 6 at intersection G; and when he advised he was ready I cleared him for takeoff. While the aircraft was on departure roll; I noticed that an operations vehicle was holding short of runway 6 at taxiway left and that instantly triggered me to remember that the runway was closed. I quickly scanned the runway and saw that there were no vehicles or personnel on the runway surface and decided that it would be safer to allow the aircraft to depart instead of canceling his takeoff clearance; as he was about to rotate. Aircraft X took off and departed to the southeast as requested. I then asked to airport operations vehicle to call me on the phone and we briefly discussed the event. I was relieved of the position a few minutes after that. Note: the runway closed 'X' at the approach end of runway 6 was in the vertical position and the 'X' at the departure end was horizontal. This event was just a pure mistake. I had many things going on at once with traffic in my airspace and on my frequency at the time the runway closed; and I was trying to get a lot done at once and simply forgot to place the runway closed memory aid into my bay. If I had done this small essential thing; this event would have been avoided. Additional staffing could have helped me out in this situation; but being that it was early in the morning; the rest of the day shift crew had not arrived yet.

Related reports:

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Tower Controller described a closed runway departure event when failing to comply with local directives regarding 'memory aid' procedures; indicating additional staffing may have help prevent this occurrence.

Narrative: An airport operations vehicle called on my frequency to close Runway 6/24. I gave the runway to Operations as requested and continued to work my traffic and perform the other necessary duties; (i.e. making log entries and cutting a new ATIS); as I was working all positions combined at the time. While doing this I forgot to post the Runway 6/24 closed memory aid into my bay at Local Control. About 20 minutes later Aircraft X called for taxi and requested a southeast bound VFR departure. I taxied the aircraft to Runway 6 at Intersection G; and when he advised he was ready I cleared him for takeoff. While the aircraft was on departure roll; I noticed that an operations vehicle was holding short of Runway 6 at Taxiway L and that instantly triggered me to remember that the runway was closed. I quickly scanned the runway and saw that there were no vehicles or personnel on the runway surface and decided that it would be safer to allow the aircraft to depart instead of canceling his takeoff clearance; as he was about to rotate. Aircraft X took off and departed to the southeast as requested. I then asked to airport operations vehicle to call me on the phone and we briefly discussed the event. I was relieved of the position a few minutes after that. Note: The runway closed 'X' at the approach end of Runway 6 was in the vertical position and the 'X' at the departure end was horizontal. This event was just a pure mistake. I had many things going on at once with traffic in my airspace and on my frequency at the time the runway closed; and I was trying to get a lot done at once and simply forgot to place the Runway closed memory aid into my bay. If I had done this small essential thing; this event would have been avoided. Additional staffing could have helped me out in this situation; but being that it was early in the morning; the rest of the day shift crew had not arrived yet.

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.