A320 captain reported being issued taxi instructions to follow another aircraft and following the ai...

Attributes
ACN	1471141
Time
Date	201708
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ATL.Airport
State Reference	GA
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	A320
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Taxi
Flight Plan	IFR
Aircraft 2
Make Model Name	MD-80 Series (DC-9-80) Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Taxi
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Flight Engineer Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Multiengine
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 160 Flight Crew Total 23820 Flight Crew Type 7900
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Conflict Ground Conflict Less Severe Deviation - Procedural Clearance Ground Incursion Runway

Narrative:

We were cleared to leave the ramp and taxi to the runway. We were told our sequence was to follow the MD88 ahead and monitor the tower which we did. Approaching the taxiway the MD88 started taxiing to cross the left runway which was being used as a taxiway as there was a tug pulling an aircraft stopped on the runway. So as previously cleared we continued to follow the aircraft ahead.approaching the runway tower called our flight number so I stopped with nose slightly on the runway. My co-pilot then told tower our clearance was to follow the MD88 and monitor the tower which we were doing. The controller then said he has a phone number to call for possible runway violation. We continued on with no further incident. There was no threat to safety in anyway. The clearance to sequence and follow the MD88 superseded the one given to us on the ramp. We were never told to hold short of a taxiway or the left runway with the second clearance. There was a definite communication failure on both parties; ATC and us. With the tug and aircraft stopped on the left runway the runway was obviously not active. In the future with this type of communication I will clarify the intent.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A320 Captain reported being issued taxi instructions to follow another aircraft and following the aircraft onto a runway to cross; but that was not ATC's intention.

Narrative: We were cleared to leave the ramp and taxi to the runway. We were told our sequence was to follow the MD88 ahead and monitor the tower which we did. Approaching the taxiway the MD88 started taxiing to cross the left runway which was being used as a taxiway as there was a tug pulling an aircraft stopped on the runway. So as previously cleared we continued to follow the aircraft ahead.Approaching the runway Tower called our flight number so I stopped with nose slightly on the runway. My co-pilot then told Tower our clearance was to follow the MD88 and monitor the tower which we were doing. The controller then said he has a phone number to call for possible runway violation. We continued on with no further incident. There was no threat to safety in anyway. The clearance to sequence and follow the MD88 superseded the one given to us on the ramp. We were never told to hold short of a taxiway or the left runway with the second clearance. There was a definite communication failure on both parties; ATC and us. With the tug and aircraft stopped on the left runway the runway was obviously not active. In the future with this type of communication I will clarify the intent.

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.

A320 captain reported being issued taxi instructions to follow another aircraft and following the aircraft onto a runway to cross; but that was not ATC's intention.