Narrative:

I was working local control which was still combined with local assist; which is normal operation for this time of the morning. An air carrier had called tower on a visual approach to 8L on a 5 mile right base and was cleared to land runway 8L. Another controller had plugged in to the local assist position and when I had available time we started the brief to de-combine the position. During the briefing; an aircraft called tower; (a giv); and said he was holding short of taxiway tango. This is normal operations when aircraft taxi from hickam AFB. I ignored the first call to finish up the de-combination briefing when the giv called again for taxi to the active. I had now completed the briefing and issued instructions to the giv 'runway 8L; taxi via tango'. The aircraft read back the appropriate instruction followed by he would be ready for an immediate. I then had a VFR aircraft call from the north side of my airspace inbound. He was told initially to continue for runway 4R and a few seconds later was cleared to land and issued the tailwind component along with traffic will be holding in position runway 8L (crossing runway). Runway 4L was closed at the time for grass cutting and vehicles on the runway were on my frequency. I observed normal flight from air carrier X on a 2 mile right base at this time. A vehicle called a few seconds later with a long winded request to proceed on runway 4L for sweeping. I told the vehicle to proceed on runway 4L and to remain clear of runway 8L at all times. During his read-back; I observed the giv passing the hold short bar at tango and proceeding onto the runway with air carrier X inside a mile final. I waited for the vehicles read-back to finish and immediately keyed up telling air carrier X to go around due to traffic on the runway. No response was received immediately and I again keyed and stated for air carrier X to go around. The pilot then acknowledged 'we're going around' on less than a half mile final. The newly installed asde-X alarm went off to send the air carrier X around. At this time the VFR aircraft was almost in a mid field left downwind for runway 4R and about to overfly midfield 8L when I told him to proceed westbound immediately traffic going around runway 8L; a passenger plane; and caution wake turbulence. He said he saw him and was passing above and behind the traffic and was then told he was still clear to land runway 4R. I then told the giv to now continue across 8L and hold on taxiway rb. The giv stumbled around words to the affect wasn't his clearance to take runway 8L. I ignored him to deal with higher priority items and a few seconds later told the giv to continue his taxi out to runway 8R now via rb and possible pilot deviation to advise ready to copy down a phone number. He verified my instruction and then said he was ready for the number. Air carrier X was issued the appropriate go around instructions and shipped to departure while the VFR aircraft landed safely. Recommendation; ground control should be taxiing aircraft to the active runway. At this facility local is required to provide taxi instructions on certain parts of the movement area. I also feel that I could have issued the go around instruction up to 5 seconds sooner if I was not waiting on a long winded read back from a district sweeper vehicle receiving permission from local to proceed on a closed runway. I saw the incident beginning to unfold right as the vehicle began the read back but waited until he finished in order to issue the go around instruction to air carrier X. An after thought through discussion with co-workers was that since my radio is more powerful than the vehicles radio I should have keyed up over his read back and issued the go around instruction.

Related reports:

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: HNL Local Controller described a runway incursion event by a military aircraft prompting a go around event; listing local taxi procedures and clearance request by an airport vehicle as contributory factors.

Narrative: I was working Local Control which was still combined with Local Assist; which is normal operation for this time of the morning. An ACR had called Tower on a visual approach to 8L on a 5 mile right base and was cleared to land Runway 8L. Another Controller had plugged in to the Local Assist position and when I had available time we started the brief to de-combine the position. During the briefing; an aircraft called Tower; (a GIV); and said he was holding short of Taxiway Tango. This is normal operations when aircraft taxi from Hickam AFB. I ignored the first call to finish up the de-combination briefing when the GIV called again for taxi to the active. I had now completed the briefing and issued instructions to the GIV 'Runway 8L; taxi via Tango'. The aircraft read back the appropriate instruction followed by he would be ready for an immediate. I then had a VFR aircraft call from the north side of my airspace inbound. He was told initially to continue for Runway 4R and a few seconds later was cleared to land and issued the tailwind component along with traffic will be holding in position runway 8L (crossing runway). Runway 4L was closed at the time for grass cutting and vehicles on the runway were on my frequency. I observed normal flight from ACR X on a 2 mile right base at this time. A vehicle called a few seconds later with a long winded request to proceed on Runway 4L for sweeping. I told the vehicle to proceed on Runway 4L and to remain clear of Runway 8L at all times. During his read-back; I observed the GIV passing the hold short bar at Tango and proceeding onto the runway with ACR X inside a mile final. I waited for the vehicles read-back to finish and immediately keyed up telling ACR X to go around due to traffic on the runway. No response was received immediately and I again keyed and stated for ACR X to go around. The pilot then acknowledged 'we're going around' on less than a half mile final. The newly installed ASDE-X alarm went off to send the ACR X around. At this time the VFR aircraft was almost in a mid field left downwind for Runway 4R and about to overfly midfield 8L when I told him to proceed westbound immediately traffic going around Runway 8L; a passenger plane; and caution wake turbulence. He said he saw him and was passing above and behind the traffic and was then told he was still clear to land Runway 4R. I then told the GIV to now continue across 8L and hold on Taxiway RB. The GIV stumbled around words to the affect wasn't his clearance to take Runway 8L. I ignored him to deal with higher priority items and a few seconds later told the GIV to continue his taxi out to Runway 8R now via RB and possible pilot deviation to advise ready to copy down a phone number. He verified my instruction and then said he was ready for the number. ACR X was issued the appropriate go around instructions and shipped to departure while the VFR aircraft landed safely. Recommendation; Ground Control should be taxiing aircraft to the active runway. At this facility Local is required to provide taxi instructions on certain parts of the movement area. I also feel that I could have issued the go around instruction up to 5 seconds sooner if I was not waiting on a long winded read back from a district sweeper vehicle receiving permission from Local to proceed on a closed runway. I saw the incident beginning to unfold right as the vehicle began the read back but waited until he finished in order to issue the go around instruction to ACR X. An after thought through discussion with co-workers was that since my radio is more powerful than the vehicles radio I should have keyed up over his read back and issued the go around instruction.

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.