Narrative:

After landing at night on 17R; we exited M5. The taxi instructions were to proceed to gate via M and cn. Taxied north on M slowly as the taxiway was dark and aircraft taxi light was dim. We augmented the poor lighting by turning on the rh landing light. Spotted a 757 facing east on M10 holding short of 17R. What we could not see was a beech 1900 stopped on M; facing north; between M9 and M10. The only light visible from behind on the beech was a white beacon on the tail and a small white navigation light on the rear empennage. We saw no wing navigation lights or logo lights. The beech did not come into view until we were less than 25 ft behind it. I stopped 10 ft to 15 ft behind the beech using light braking. The beech was almost impossible to see from behind as it sat low to the ground. There were also construction crews ahead in the far distance; on M near runway 8; working under white lights. Although we were not blinded by the construction lights; they aided in concealing the two white lights on the beech. The first officer later told me he did not even see the beech until we were stopped; as it was below our nose and had no colored lights to distinguish it from the white construction lights in the distance. Had we not been taxiing slowly; with a landing light on; we would have very possibly run into the back of the beech.shaken up by the close call; we continued our taxi in; once the beech started moving towards 17R. This is when I turned west on cs; instead of cn. As soon as I entered the ramp; we realized our mistake and I stopped the aircraft. We confessed our mistake to ground control and they handed us over to ramp control; who told us to taxi via J and cn. Realizing our position near on ramp and seeing that we appeared confused; they changed the taxi instructions to proceed straight north on J to cn. The only other aircraft near us on the ramp was a rj; about 150 yards away; heading east on cs. Ramp control transitioned him over to bn in order to pass south of us. We never got closer than 100 yards from the rj. We did well by taxiing slowly and using the landing light. This alone saved us from a possible disaster. Where I went wrong was in not taking time to recover from the shock; and instead; continuing to taxi at a very complicated airport under night conditions. Would have been better to set the parking brake; and take a minute to see where we were and where we needed to go from there. When you are startled by something; you tend to lose the big picture and instead focus on what just happened. Taking a minute to settle your nerves and think can keep you out of further trouble. I will continue to taxi slowly at night; use all available lighting; and be mindful that small aircraft can be very difficult to see from behind at night.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B737 Captain reported a near collision with a Beech 1900 at night at the DEN airport; citing difficulties in picking out the aircraft position lights from the construction lights.

Narrative: After landing at night on 17R; we exited M5. The taxi instructions were to proceed to gate via M and CN. Taxied north on M slowly as the taxiway was dark and aircraft taxi light was dim. We augmented the poor lighting by turning on the RH landing light. Spotted a 757 facing east on M10 holding short of 17R. What we could not see was a Beech 1900 stopped on M; facing north; between M9 and M10. The only light visible from behind on the Beech was a white beacon on the tail and a small white navigation light on the rear empennage. We saw no wing navigation lights or logo lights. The Beech did not come into view until we were less than 25 FT behind it. I stopped 10 FT to 15 FT behind the Beech using light braking. The Beech was almost impossible to see from behind as it sat low to the ground. There were also construction crews ahead in the far distance; on M near Runway 8; working under white lights. Although we were not blinded by the construction lights; they aided in concealing the two white lights on the Beech. The First Officer later told me he did not even see the Beech until we were stopped; as it was below our nose and had no colored lights to distinguish it from the white construction lights in the distance. Had we not been taxiing slowly; with a landing light on; we would have very possibly run into the back of the Beech.Shaken up by the close call; we continued our taxi in; once the Beech started moving towards 17R. This is when I turned west on CS; instead of CN. As soon as I entered the ramp; we realized our mistake and I stopped the aircraft. We confessed our mistake to Ground Control and they handed us over to Ramp Control; who told us to taxi via J and CN. Realizing our position near on ramp and seeing that we appeared confused; they changed the taxi instructions to proceed straight north on J to CN. The only other aircraft near us on the ramp was a RJ; about 150 yards away; heading east on CS. Ramp Control transitioned him over to BN in order to pass south of us. We never got closer than 100 yards from the RJ. We did well by taxiing slowly and using the landing light. This alone saved us from a possible disaster. Where I went wrong was in not taking time to recover from the shock; and instead; continuing to taxi at a very complicated airport under night conditions. Would have been better to set the parking brake; and take a minute to see where we were and where we needed to go from there. When you are startled by something; you tend to lose the big picture and instead focus on what just happened. Taking a minute to settle your nerves and think can keep you out of further trouble. I will continue to taxi slowly at night; use all available lighting; and be mindful that small aircraft can be very difficult to see from behind at night.

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.