On 12 August 2010, at about 1402 Eastern Standard Time, the pilot of a Piper PA-28-161 (Warrior II) aircraft registered VH-BZE (BZE) was cleared by the Surface Movement Controller (SMC) to taxi to holding point Alpha 2 (A2) for a departure from runway 13R, on a private navigational flight from Moorabbin Airport, Victoria. Following line up checks, the pilot was issued a takeoff clearance for runway 13R. Another aircraft, VH-PVL, that had recently landed on runway 13R was cleared to cross runways 22, 17L and 17R during taxi. The pilot of BZE inadvertently began a take-off roll on runway 17R instead of runway 13R, which resulted in a runway incursion. The aircraft came within 100 m of each other before BZE exited at the first taxiway and returned to the apron. There were no injuries to the occupants and nil damage to either aircraft.
The pilot of BZE became disorientated at holding point A2 as it was a combined entry to both runway 13R and 17R. Information regarding potential runway conflict areas (hotspots) was available for the airport on the Airservices Australia (Airservices) website, but this was not common knowledge to all airport users.
