Narrative:

My taxi route was echo ramp alpha taxiway cleared over runway 14 down charlie. On taxiway charlie runup area; checked aircraft procedure complete; I called ground to say I would go to south practice area. I said departing to the south please inform tower of this. Ground inquired if I was ready now; some conversation as if I could expedite (my words) I would be #1 to depart. I then proceeded down charlie; looked down final for other aircraft and took position on active (runway 19) called to say I am lined up and waiting. At this time I realized I was on ground frequency and had not called tower; there was there was conversation with ground that made me realize my error I then very quickly switched to tower and tower very professionally informed me that they did not instruct me on to the active. They then calmly directed me off the active. I apologized for this error; I was held there for about 10 minutes at golf 7 then was allowed to depart. The procedure is to hold at the hold line contact tower and await instructions. I've done this about a thousand times; and must say I surprised my self at what happened. Procedures are in place to prevent accidents. Fortunately training had me observe final for traffic (there was none). Even if someone wants a pilot to move faster (no one said this specifically;it was just implicit in the tone) procedure must be followed! The pilot must not ever forget this! I know I won't. This pilot learned a lot about flying in the 2 minutes this whole event took than in decades of flying! In my mind I thought I was helping by being quick so as not hold up other people; that clearly is no longer my thinking. New pilots should use this information so they don't make the same mistake. I'm very sorry for this problem.

Related reports:

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: C172 Pilot reported proceeding on the active runway to line up and wait without clearance to do so.

Narrative: My taxi route was Echo Ramp Alpha Taxiway cleared over Runway 14 down Charlie. On taxiway Charlie runup area; checked aircraft procedure complete; I called Ground to say I would go to South practice area. I said departing to the south please inform Tower of this. Ground inquired if I was ready now; some conversation as if I could expedite (my words) I would be #1 to depart. I then proceeded down Charlie; looked down final for other aircraft and took position on active (Runway 19) called to say I am lined up and waiting. At this time I realized I was on Ground frequency and had not called Tower; there was there was conversation with Ground that made me realize my error I then very quickly switched to Tower and Tower very professionally informed me that they did not instruct me on to the active. They then calmly directed me off the active. I apologized for this error; I was held there for about 10 minutes at Golf 7 then was allowed to depart. The procedure is to hold at the hold line contact Tower and await instructions. I've done this about a thousand times; and must say I surprised my self at what happened. Procedures are in place to prevent accidents. Fortunately training had me observe final for traffic (there was none). Even if someone wants a pilot to move faster (no one said this specifically;it was just implicit in the tone) procedure must be followed! The pilot must not ever forget this! I know I won't. This pilot learned a lot about flying in the 2 minutes this whole event took than in decades of flying! In my mind I thought I was helping by being quick so as not hold up other people; that clearly is NO LONGER my thinking. New pilots should use this information so they don't make the same mistake. I'm very sorry for this problem.

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.