Narrative:

I; the first officer; was the pilot flying and landed uneventfully on xyl. While clearing xyl at N2; the last high speed; the controls were transferred to the captain. During the control transfer the captain replied to two separate radio transmissions from the tower. First; 'hold short of runway xyr at tango;' and the second; 'monitor tower.' both instructions were acknowledged and read back by the captain. The captain already had the tower frequency for runway xyr in the standby and switched it over to the active channel. I verified the new frequency that the captain had selected because we had not yet heard any transmissions on the new frequency. The captain had loaded the correct frequency in rtu 1. The after-landing checklist was called for by the captain and I began the after-landing flow. My flow pattern was interrupted when tower issued us crossing instructions for xyr stating; '[callsign]; cross runway xyr; join lima; contact ground.' the captain turned on the exterior lights and increased the thrust while I read back the tower's crossing instructions. As we began rolling we noticed what we thought at the time was an aircraft lining up for position on the runway we were crossing. Initially this did not concern us as it is a common practice at airports across the nation. However; a few seconds after crossing the hold short line and on the active departure runway; we both noticed movement. The aircraft that we thought was only positioning for departure on the runway had turned its takeoff and landing lights on and we saw it accelerating towards us. At this point; the nose of our aircraft was crossing the runway center line. The departing aircraft rotated and climbed over us as we continued to cross. As all this was happening tower realized what was going on; that he had given us a clearance to cross and an airplane was departing. Tower quickly told us to hold position. I replied that we were 'already rolling;' as I watched in utter stupor as the departing airplane climbed over our fuselage. Needless to say; everyone was shaken at what could have happened. After crossing and clearing the runway we were quickly told to contact ground. I attempted to query the controller as to what had happened; but my calls went ignored. After contacting ground I requested a phone number for the tower. I spoke with the supervisor after we returned to gate. Obviously; and even though [we] remembered receiving and reading back the crossing clearance; we wanted to make sure that we had not been a cause of this incident. The tower supervisor informed me that they had reviewed the tapes and we had received a crossing restriction and read it back correctly. The other aircraft had also been given a takeoff clearance; which occurred prior to our aircraft joining the frequency. However; the tower supervisor noted that the tower had attempted to amend those instructions but that it had not been received. Neither I nor the captain ever heard any instructions to stop other than once we were on the runway. An hour later and on the next leg; we were cleared to take off from runway xxl well prior to reaching the hold short line. There was another aircraft behind us who was subsequently cleared into position on our runway. I noticed that between the two clearances; ours and the aircraft behind us; the tower controller's voice was different because of a shift change. I queried the new controller to verify our takeoff clearance. I believe that a similar situation could have existed during our runway incursion an hour earlier. We never heard anyone give the aircraft a takeoff clearance.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A CRJ900 First Officer reported that after they were cleared to cross a RWY; an aircraft took off and overflew their aircraft as they were taxiing across.

Narrative: I; the First Officer; was the pilot flying and landed uneventfully on XYL. While clearing XYL at N2; the last high speed; the controls were transferred to the Captain. During the control transfer the Captain replied to two separate radio transmissions from the Tower. First; 'Hold short of Runway XYR at Tango;' and the second; 'Monitor Tower.' Both instructions were acknowledged and read back by the Captain. The Captain already had the Tower frequency for Runway XYR in the standby and switched it over to the active channel. I verified the new frequency that the Captain had selected because we had not yet heard any transmissions on the new frequency. The Captain had loaded the correct frequency in RTU 1. The after-landing checklist was called for by the Captain and I began the after-landing flow. My flow pattern was interrupted when Tower issued us crossing instructions for XYR stating; '[Callsign]; cross Runway XYR; join Lima; contact Ground.' The Captain turned on the exterior lights and increased the thrust while I read back the Tower's crossing instructions. As we began rolling we noticed what we thought at the time was an aircraft lining up for position on the runway we were crossing. Initially this did not concern us as it is a common practice at airports across the nation. However; a few seconds after crossing the hold short line and on the active departure runway; we both noticed movement. The aircraft that we thought was only positioning for departure on the runway had turned its takeoff and landing lights on and we saw it accelerating towards us. At this point; the nose of our aircraft was crossing the runway center line. The departing aircraft rotated and climbed over us as we continued to cross. As all this was happening Tower realized what was going on; that he had given us a clearance to cross and an airplane was departing. Tower quickly told us to hold position. I replied that we were 'Already rolling;' as I watched in utter stupor as the departing airplane climbed over our fuselage. Needless to say; everyone was shaken at what could have happened. After crossing and clearing the runway we were quickly told to contact Ground. I attempted to query the Controller as to what had happened; but my calls went ignored. After contacting Ground I requested a phone number for the Tower. I spoke with the Supervisor after we returned to gate. Obviously; and even though [we] remembered receiving and reading back the crossing clearance; we wanted to make sure that we had not been a cause of this incident. The Tower Supervisor informed me that they had reviewed the tapes and we had received a crossing restriction and read it back correctly. The other aircraft had also been given a takeoff clearance; which occurred prior to our aircraft joining the frequency. However; the Tower Supervisor noted that the Tower had attempted to amend those instructions but that it had not been received. Neither I nor the Captain ever heard any instructions to stop other than once we were on the runway. An hour later and on the next leg; we were cleared to take off from Runway XXL well prior to reaching the hold short line. There was another aircraft behind us who was subsequently cleared into position on our runway. I noticed that between the two clearances; ours and the aircraft behind us; the Tower Controller's voice was different because of a shift change. I queried the new Controller to verify our takeoff clearance. I believe that a similar situation could have existed during our runway incursion an hour earlier. We never heard anyone give the aircraft a takeoff clearance.

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.