Narrative:

We continue to confuse the pilots and double the workload because of excess phraseology and trying to ensure 100% compliance from the pilots which we are nowhere near. Aircraft call for taxi to a runway and we issue taxi instructions to non-designated run-up areas at 3 locations and 1 fully designated run-up area near taxiway C1. We say; 'taxi to the A1 run-up area via taxiway a; expect runway 17L'. On the ATIS; we inform pilots to have them advise ground control when their run-up is complete for sequence to the runway. If and when the pilot's call ready; we are required to say; 'runway 17L; taxi via A1; monitor tower'. Problem with this is that all aircraft have not been officially assigned a runway up until this point. Per the .65; we are required to get a runway read back. The phraseology is such that pilots routinely say; 'roger; monitor tower' or 'taxi via A1; monitor tower' which then send me and others scrambling to get the read back of the runway prior to switching but many are quick to flip the switch and we do not get the read back. Other pilots who do not listen to the ATIS and don't follow our procedures; automatically contact tower when ready for departure instead of ground control and were never officially assigned a runway. Should we violate the pilot for non-compliance even though 90% or more of the VFR airports nationwide do not require ground control to sequence? While working today; numerous aircraft would call ready; I would say 'runway 17L monitor tower'; stopping there in violation of the apa SOP so as to get 100% compliance on runway assignments; and they would come back and say 'we are already at runway 17L' in which I would have to explain on the frequency what I wanted them to do. It just plain dangerous and we continue to violate pilots on a weekly basis to enter runways because they don't fully understand what we are saying. If aircraft are at the A18; A16 or A1 run-up areas which are not so designated on the FAA airport maps and the pilots is issued an instruction to taxi to the runway via one of those taxiways; the only way to get onto those taxiways from taxiway a is to cross the hold bars; if you can see what I'm trying to say. Taxiway a goes from north to south stopping at the edge of the grass on both ends. All connector taxiways begin east or west of taxiway a. If the aircraft is sitting on or near taxiway a; and we say taxi via taxiway A18; it could confuse the pilots to actually join the taxiway to get to the runway which would be bad. [I] recommend [we] stop using this procedure immediately.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: APA Controller expressed concern regarding local taxi instructional procedures claiming pilot confusion is frequently a result with runway incursion occurring from time to time.

Narrative: We continue to confuse the pilots and double the workload because of excess phraseology and trying to ensure 100% compliance from the pilots which we are nowhere near. Aircraft call for taxi to a runway and we issue taxi instructions to non-designated run-up areas at 3 locations and 1 fully designated run-up area near Taxiway C1. We say; 'Taxi to the A1 run-up area via Taxiway A; expect Runway 17L'. On the ATIS; we inform pilots to have them advise Ground Control when their run-up is complete for sequence to the runway. If and when the pilot's call ready; we are required to say; 'Runway 17L; Taxi via A1; monitor Tower'. Problem with this is that all aircraft have not been officially assigned a runway up until this point. Per the .65; we are required to get a runway read back. The phraseology is such that pilots routinely say; 'Roger; monitor Tower' or 'Taxi via A1; monitor Tower' which then send me and others scrambling to get the read back of the runway prior to switching but many are quick to flip the switch and we do not get the read back. Other pilots who do not listen to the ATIS and don't follow our procedures; automatically contact tower when ready for departure instead of Ground Control and were never officially assigned a runway. Should we violate the pilot for non-compliance even though 90% or more of the VFR airports nationwide do not require Ground Control to sequence? While working today; numerous aircraft would call ready; I would say 'Runway 17L monitor Tower'; stopping there in violation of the APA SOP so as to get 100% compliance on runway assignments; and they would come back and say 'We are already at Runway 17L' in which I would have to explain on the frequency what I wanted them to do. It just plain dangerous and we continue to violate pilots on a weekly basis to enter runways because they don't fully understand what we are saying. If aircraft are at the A18; A16 or A1 run-up areas which are not so designated on the FAA airport maps and the pilots is issued an instruction to taxi to the Runway via one of those taxiways; the only way to get onto those taxiways from Taxiway A is to cross the hold bars; if you can see what I'm trying to say. Taxiway A goes from north to south stopping at the edge of the grass on both ends. All connector taxiways begin east or west of Taxiway A. If the aircraft is sitting on or near Taxiway A; and we say Taxi via Taxiway A18; it could confuse the pilots to actually join the taxiway to get to the runway which would be BAD. [I] recommend [we] stop using this procedure immediately.

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.