A pilot reported mdw radio and aircraft traffic gridlocked. He became confused and thought taxi clea...

Narrative:

We were late pushing off the gate at midway and could not push deep enough to let holding traffic get onto our gate. Aircraft holding for gates had several aircraft stacked behind them. Airport was very busy with lots of radio chatter of aircraft trying to push and taxi. The first officer (first officer) had made several calls to ground for taxi clearance; but; so was everyone else. I knew we were blocking a lot of traffic and I was trying to monitor ground and ops at the same time. After several attempts by first officer; I thought I heard our call sign cleared to taxi. So believing I was cleared; and because I felt rushed; I didn't confirm with first officer we had been cleared to taxi; I started to turn out on to the taxiway. At that point; ground informed me we had been not cleared to taxi.never rush! I should have focused all my attention monitoring ground in that busy environment. If I wasn't positive I should have reconfirmed clearance my first officer and reconfirmed with ground control that we had taxi clearance. My first officer should have stopped me from taxiing if he wasn't positive we had clearance.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Pilot reported MDW radio and aircraft traffic gridlocked. He became confused and thought taxi clearance was issued but after moving was stopped by Ground.

Narrative: We were late pushing off the gate at Midway and could not push deep enough to let holding traffic get onto our gate. Aircraft holding for gates had several aircraft stacked behind them. Airport was very busy with lots of radio chatter of aircraft trying to push and taxi. The First Officer (FO) had made several calls to Ground for taxi clearance; but; so was everyone else. I knew we were blocking a lot of traffic and I was trying to monitor Ground and Ops at the same time. After several attempts by FO; I thought I heard our call sign cleared to taxi. So believing I was cleared; and because I felt rushed; I didn't confirm with FO we had been cleared to taxi; I started to turn out on to the Taxiway. At that point; Ground informed me we had been not cleared to taxi.Never rush! I should have focused all my attention monitoring Ground in that busy environment. If I wasn't positive I should have reconfirmed clearance my FO and reconfirmed with Ground Control that we had taxi clearance. My FO should have stopped me from taxiing if he wasn't positive we had clearance.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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.

Attributes
ACN	1303779
Time
Date	201510
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	MDW.Airport
State Reference	IL
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Dusk
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Large Transport Low Wing 2 Turbojet Eng
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Taxi
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Conflict Ground Conflict Less Severe Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Deviation - Procedural FAR Deviation - Procedural Clearance Ground Incursion Taxiway

A pilot reported mdw radio and aircraft traffic gridlocked. He became confused and thought taxi clearance was issued but after moving was stopped by ground.