Narrative:

Aircraft X (C402) landed runway xx; crossed runway edge line. After crossing the runway edge line; blew a tire and was unable to continue. Aircraft Y (BE20) who had been given a take off clearance was told to cancel take off clearance if able. The aircraft was able and exited the runway at the next intersection of runway xx. Aircraft X did not clear the hold short line; so the runway was closed. Two aircraft were told to go around. I was told by both the atm and the flm that I had an operational error because the aircraft had not completely cleared the hold short line; when aircraft Y began its take off roll. It wasn't until I pointed out the aircraft only needed to be past the runway edge and no aircraft blocking the movement of the aircraft. But the management kept insisting that the aircraft had to be passed the hold short line to be considered clear of the runway. Finally at the end of the meeting; the flm found in the controller glossary of the 7110.65 the definition of clear of the runway. 'A pilot or controller may consider an aircraft; which is exiting or crossing a runway; to be clear of the runway when all parts of the aircraft are beyond the runway edge and there are no restrictions to its continued movement beyond the applicable runway holding position marking. I met all these requirements. There was no way that I would have known that the aircraft was going to blow it's tire. Again; the aircraft was past the runway edge and no restrictions to its continued movement at the time it blew its tire. Management thought that the aircraft had to be past the hold short line. Recommendation; management should be better informed on the 7110.65; especially with an everyday occurrence of aircraft clearing a runway.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Tower Controller was informed of a loss of separation event when traffic was cleared for take off with an exiting aircraft clear of the edge lines but not the hold lines; management erred in their assessment.

Narrative: Aircraft X (C402) landed Runway XX; crossed runway edge line. After crossing the runway edge line; blew a tire and was unable to continue. Aircraft Y (BE20) who had been given a take off clearance was told to cancel take off clearance if able. The aircraft was able and exited the runway at the next intersection of Runway XX. Aircraft X did not clear the hold short line; so the runway was closed. Two aircraft were told to go around. I was told by both the ATM and the FLM that I had an operational error because the aircraft had not completely cleared the hold short line; when Aircraft Y began its take off roll. It wasn't until I pointed out the aircraft only needed to be past the runway edge and no aircraft blocking the movement of the aircraft. But the management kept insisting that the aircraft had to be passed the hold short line to be considered clear of the runway. Finally at the end of the meeting; the FLM found in the controller glossary of the 7110.65 the definition of CLEAR OF THE RUNWAY. 'A pilot or controller may consider an aircraft; which is exiting or crossing a runway; to be clear of the runway when all parts of the aircraft are beyond the runway edge and there are no restrictions to its continued movement beyond the applicable runway holding position marking. I met all these requirements. There was no way that I would have known that the aircraft was going to blow it's tire. Again; the aircraft was past the runway edge and no restrictions to its continued movement at the time it blew its tire. Management thought that the aircraft had to be past the hold short line. Recommendation; management should be better informed on the 7110.65; especially with an everyday occurrence of aircraft clearing a runway.

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.