Incident at St. Andrews, Manitoba (ATS operating irregularity)

1996-09-18: The Winnipeg Aviation PA28, C-GQPR, was taking off from St. Andrews, Manitoba, on a student training flight. Prior to taxi the pilot receiving ATIS and taxi instructions for runway 18. The pilot taxied for runway 18 and asked for take-off clearance. The controller cleared the aircraft to take-off from runway 13. The pilot then taxied across runway 18 and began his take-off on runway 13. The controller advised the pilot to abort and the aircraft stopped at about 1700 feet from the threshold. Immediately prior to the pilot of GQPR calling for taxi, runway 13 had been closed for maintenance and the active runway had been changed to runway 18. When the aircraft aborted the take-off, maintenance vehicles were on the runway about 2900 feet from the threshold. Unit management is investigating.