Narrative:

We landed on runway 18R at dfw after a visual approach with the first officer as pilot flying. We exited at the high speed E6. As we were just exiting the runway at E6 the tower issued us a clearance to cross runway 18L at wm and to contact ground on the other side. Just about this time I heard the tower just after our clearance to cross; issue another aircraft which happened to be a 'heavy' 757 clearance to takeoff on runway 18L. I continued to slow the aircraft to less than 10 KTS as I made the turn from E6 to wm. I was aware of the clearance of the departing aircraft and had already planned to stop before the intersection of runway 18L at wm. The first officer was busy performing the after landing clean up items and did not hear the tower clear the 757 to takeoff. Sure enough as I looked down the runway I observed the 757 on the takeoff roll and also observed the runway status lights illuminated red. I continued to slow and stopped well before the hold short line. We then informed the tower we were holding short. A short while after the 757 had departed we reminded the tower that we were holding short of runway 18L at wm. The tower then cleared us to cross and to contact ground. This was the third leg of a four leg day that started very early body clock time. The first officer did not hear the clearance for the 757 to takeoff from runway 18L but did acknowledge our clearance to cross runway 18L at wm. One of the items I'm most cautious about especially at dfw is answering any clearances until clear of the active runway. At an ever increasing rate; the dfw tower is issuing taxi instructions while aircraft are decelerating on the runway during roll out. Sometimes these clearances come before 80 KTS. I don't believe this is safe. I don't believe it is their printed procedure to do this. As a result of these practices I had developed my own practice of announcing out loud to my first officers after a clearance to cross a runway the following: 'no one coming; lights are out crossing.' what I've found is that it makes me very aware of the runway situation and whether it is indeed safe to cross. One suggestion I would strongly recommend is that the first officer do not touch anything until both pilots are convinced and agree that a safe crossing of an active runway can be performed. In addition; there is no reason to contact the 'company' until crossing all runways safely. If the ACARS can generate a reassignment with an acknowledgment from the crew they can certainly send a proposed entry spot for your gate during the change over. After all runways have been crossed and the after landing and taxi checklist have been completed the first officer could then verify the entry point with ramp control. I do believe that the runway status lights turning red would have initiated a relatively low speed abort for the 757 and that I would have stopped the aircraft as soon as the lights turned red for me. I think the runway status lights are extremely helpful but clearances to cross runways or any other clearances given by the tower while on an active runway is dangerous.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: After landing on Runway 18R at DFW crew was cleared to cross 18L at taxiway WM. An aircraft is cleared to takeoff on 18L shortly after. The reporter holds short after seeing the traffic and the red hold bars across WM.

Narrative: We landed on Runway 18R at DFW after a visual approach with the First Officer as pilot flying. We exited at the high speed E6. As we were just exiting the runway at E6 the Tower issued us a clearance to cross Runway 18L at WM and to contact ground on the other side. Just about this time I heard the Tower just after our clearance to cross; issue another aircraft which happened to be a 'heavy' 757 clearance to takeoff on Runway 18L. I continued to slow the aircraft to less than 10 KTS as I made the turn from E6 to WM. I was aware of the clearance of the departing aircraft and had already planned to stop before the intersection of Runway 18L at WM. The First Officer was busy performing the after landing clean up items and did not hear the Tower clear the 757 to takeoff. Sure enough as I looked down the runway I observed the 757 on the takeoff roll and also observed the runway status lights illuminated red. I continued to slow and stopped well before the hold short line. We then informed the Tower we were holding short. A short while after the 757 had departed we reminded the Tower that we were holding short of Runway 18L at WM. The Tower then cleared us to cross and to contact ground. This was the third leg of a four leg day that started very early body clock time. The First Officer did not hear the clearance for the 757 to takeoff from Runway 18L but did acknowledge our clearance to cross Runway 18L at WM. One of the items I'm most cautious about especially at DFW is answering any clearances until clear of the active runway. At an ever increasing rate; the DFW Tower is issuing taxi instructions while aircraft are decelerating on the runway during roll out. Sometimes these clearances come before 80 KTS. I don't believe this is safe. I don't believe it is their printed procedure to do this. As a result of these practices I had developed my own practice of announcing out loud to my First Officers after a clearance to cross a runway the following: 'No one coming; lights are out crossing.' What I've found is that it makes me very aware of the runway situation and whether it is indeed safe to cross. One suggestion I would strongly recommend is that the First Officer do not touch anything until both pilots are convinced and agree that a safe crossing of an active runway can be performed. In addition; there is no reason to contact the 'company' until crossing all runways safely. If the ACARS can generate a reassignment with an acknowledgment from the crew they can certainly send a proposed entry spot for your gate during the change over. After all runways have been crossed and the after landing and taxi checklist have been completed the First Officer could then verify the entry point with ramp control. I do believe that the runway status lights turning red would have initiated a relatively low speed abort for the 757 and that I would have stopped the aircraft as soon as the lights turned red for me. I think the runway status lights are extremely helpful but clearances to cross runways or any other clearances given by the Tower while on an active runway is dangerous.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.