Narrative:

The morning started very normal with the boarding process and preflight checks. I performed the departure review and briefed that we were at [gate xx] and an advisory pushback call was only necessary and no clearance was required; the gate next to us did require it due to its proximity to a taxiway. As boarding was finishing up the captain gave dispatch a call and inquired about the GPS interference testing. He noticed that we were going to depart right as the testing began and most of the flight would be in the affected area. There were no NOTAMS in the release and the [company] memo didn't give any guidance on what the interference would look like or how to handle it if it occurred during our flight. Dispatch was not aware of anything so the captain hung up and we finished our checks and began to pushback. During the push we began to discuss what we should do; what it may look like and if this was something we should look more into. As the ramp crew was finishing the push I heard ground say 'aircraft pushing off [gate xy] acknowledge'. I replied with our call sign and told them were pushing off [gate xx]. Ground notified us that we had just been pushed onto an active taxiway and that we should have called to request pushback clearance. The captain set the brake; waved off the ramp crew; and then let ground know that we had read in our company notes it wasn't required from xx but that it was still our responsibility and apologized. Ground told us that the ramp crew should have known and then we carried on with the rest of the flight. Taxi out and takeoff resumed as normal. I believe the two main factors that lead to this was the distraction caused by the GPS interference and the fact that I became a little relaxed on being alert to pushing on taxiway after reading the note on the 10-7. After I briefed that clearance was not required from our gate I became complacent and just assumed the ramp crew would push us were we needed to go. On top of this; we got distracted during the push talking about the GPS interference which caused us to not make a courtesy call like we both would do normally and not to pay attention to where ramp was pushing us. I recommend the 10-7 page for ZZZ to be changed to include [gate xx] as another gate that requires a call before push since it is so close to the active taxiway and if there are planes pushing to the left of it; the ramp crew is likely to push the aircraft in the taxiway.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Flight Crew reported that the aircraft was pushed back without a clearance and onto an active taxiway.

Narrative: The morning started very normal with the boarding process and preflight checks. I performed the departure review and briefed that we were at [Gate XX] and an advisory pushback call was only necessary and no clearance was required; the gate next to us did require it due to its proximity to a taxiway. As boarding was finishing up the Captain gave dispatch a call and inquired about the GPS interference testing. He noticed that we were going to depart right as the testing began and most of the flight would be in the affected area. There were no NOTAMS in the release and the [company] memo didn't give any guidance on what the interference would look like or how to handle it if it occurred during our flight. Dispatch was not aware of anything so the Captain hung up and we finished our checks and began to pushback. During the push we began to discuss what we should do; what it may look like and if this was something we should look more into. As the ramp crew was finishing the push I heard ground say 'Aircraft pushing off [Gate XY] acknowledge'. I replied with our call sign and told them were pushing off [Gate XX]. Ground notified us that we had just been pushed onto an active taxiway and that we should have called to request pushback clearance. The Captain set the brake; waved off the ramp crew; and then let Ground know that we had read in our company notes it wasn't required from XX but that it was still our responsibility and apologized. Ground told us that the ramp crew should have known and then we carried on with the rest of the flight. Taxi out and takeoff resumed as normal. I believe the two main factors that lead to this was the distraction caused by the GPS interference and the fact that I became a little relaxed on being alert to pushing on taxiway after reading the note on the 10-7. After I briefed that clearance was not required from our gate I became complacent and just assumed the ramp crew would push us were we needed to go. On top of this; we got distracted during the push talking about the GPS interference which caused us to not make a courtesy call like we both would do normally and not to pay attention to where ramp was pushing us. I recommend the 10-7 page for ZZZ to be changed to include [Gate XX] as another gate that requires a call before push since it is so close to the active taxiway and if there are planes pushing to the left of it; the ramp crew is likely to push the aircraft in the taxiway.

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.