Narrative:

We landed on 9R in philly and tower told us to cross 9L at echo and contact ramp. Tower did not tell us to contact ground nor did they specify which ramp frequency to use. I chose to contact ramp on 130.57 because that is the frequency for the area of the ramp where we were parking. I called ramp and told them we were on echo and our parking gate. Ramp control told us to taxi to the gate. When we exited echo and taxied across spot 11 we noticed a company aircraft under maintenance tow on the north side of the east gates. I was watching him to see where he was going and then looked to the right and saw a dash 8 very close to us approaching spot X from the north. I told the captain and he stopped. The dash 8 did not have his taxi light on and was painted black. After we stopped he continued to taxi to his gate between us and the maintenance aircraft. We called ramp control and asked about it; but they did not see the dash 8 and were not talking to him. When we reached the gate we contacted ramp control on 129.75 and asked them about the incident. They told us they had seen it; but they were also not talking to the dash 8. Even though tower did not specify which ramp controller to contact and ramp did clear us to taxi to the gate; if I had contacted ramp on 129.75 he may have been able to give us a heads up on the dash 8 earlier. The dash 8 should have been in contact with ramp and should have had his taxi light on. Ramp should not have cleared us if they did not have our entire route in sight. Tower should have specified which ramp frequency to use. If tower or ground were talking to the dash 8; they should have told them about us or at least coordinated with ramp.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B737 crew was given taxi clearance by PHL Ramp Control to their gate after landing. Enroute the reporters encountered an aircraft under tow and taxiing DHC8 neither of which were reported as traffic. The DHC8 became a threat and reporters had to stop for them. Ramp Control did not see either conflicting aircraft.

Narrative: We landed on 9R in Philly and Tower told us to cross 9L at Echo and contact Ramp. Tower did not tell us to contact Ground nor did they specify which Ramp frequency to use. I chose to contact Ramp on 130.57 because that is the frequency for the area of the ramp where we were parking. I called Ramp and told them we were on Echo and our parking gate. Ramp Control told us to taxi to the gate. When we exited Echo and taxied across Spot 11 we noticed a Company aircraft under maintenance tow on the north side of the E Gates. I was watching him to see where he was going and then looked to the right and saw a Dash 8 very close to us approaching Spot X from the north. I told the Captain and he stopped. The Dash 8 did not have his taxi light on and was painted black. After we stopped he continued to taxi to his gate between us and the maintenance aircraft. We called Ramp Control and asked about it; but they did not see the Dash 8 and were not talking to him. When we reached the gate we contacted Ramp Control on 129.75 and asked them about the incident. They told us they had seen it; but they were also not talking to the Dash 8. Even though Tower did not specify which Ramp Controller to contact and Ramp did clear us to taxi to the gate; if I had contacted ramp on 129.75 he may have been able to give us a heads up on the Dash 8 earlier. The Dash 8 should have been in contact with Ramp and should have had his taxi light on. Ramp should not have cleared us if they did not have our entire route in sight. Tower should have specified which Ramp frequency to use. If Tower or Ground were talking to the Dash 8; they should have told them about us or at least coordinated with Ramp.

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.