Air carrier first officer describes a taxiway incursion at iah after being cleared to taxi to runway...

Narrative:

On taxi out we had pre briefed our taxi to runway 26L; but ATC assigned us runway 15L. The taxi instructions were nb northeast taxi to 15L. We entered nb and started taxing toward 15L. When we reached the intersection at northeast we saw a sign that said 15L approach and a sign for northeast so we turned right. Ground contacted us and said we had turned the wrong way. The approach end was to the right; but the runway was actually to the left. We saw the sign for 15L approach and assumed that was the start of the runway; but we were wrong. We then made a left turn as instructed and made our way to the runway. Neither of us had flown out of iah in a long time and were unfamiliar with the field. Also the taxi signage was a little confusing to us as well. A better clearance would have been nb northeast ww taxi to runway 15L. I think this; along with us slowing down and taking a better look at things could have prevented the situation.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air Carrier First Officer describes a taxiway incursion at IAH after being cleared to taxi to Runway 15L via NB and NE. A right turn is initiated at NE although a left turn was required.

Narrative: On taxi out we had pre briefed our taxi to Runway 26L; but ATC assigned us Runway 15L. The taxi instructions were NB NE taxi to 15L. We entered NB and started taxing toward 15L. When we reached the intersection at NE we saw a sign that said 15L Approach and a sign for NE so we turned right. Ground contacted us and said we had turned the wrong way. The approach end was to the right; but the runway was actually to the left. We saw the sign for 15L Approach and assumed that was the start of the runway; but we were wrong. We then made a left turn as instructed and made our way to the runway. Neither of us had flown out of IAH in a long time and were unfamiliar with the field. Also the taxi signage was a little confusing to us as well. A better clearance would have been NB NE WW taxi to Runway 15L. I think this; along with us slowing down and taking a better look at things could have prevented the situation.

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	944663
Time
Date	201104
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	IAH.Airport
State Reference	TX
Environment
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Light Transport Low Wing 2 Turbojet Eng
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Taxi
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	First Officer
Qualification	Flight Crew Commercial
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Clearance Ground Incursion Taxiway

Air carrier first officer describes a taxiway incursion at iah after being cleared to taxi to runway 15L via nb and northeast. A right turn is initiated at northeast although a left turn was required.