Narrative:

During taxi out for runway 19 at dca there was a long line awaiting departure. Assigned to taxiway 'J'; hold short of runway 15. With just over 5K fuel scheduled for arrival at our destination; decided to shutdown #2 engine until closer to departure. The aircraft ahead was cleared to cross runway 15 but since we were still on one engine; we elected to remain in our original spot on taxiway 'J'. After waiting approximately 5 minutes; we were cleared by ground control; '...to taxi to and hold short of runway 19.' we were not given any clearance to cross runway 15 but didn't think about that relatively new requirement. Still; we queried ground as to our clearance and was again told to; 'taxi to and hold short of runway 19.' as captain added power to begin taxi I noted an aircraft on what I believed the river visual for runway 19. We started moving toward the runway 15 intersection and as we got fairly close I commented to the captain that it appeared the aircraft on final was actually landing on runway 15. As he began to brake ground told us to hold short runway 15; which we did. In retrospect we should have questioned his original clearance to runway 19 but old habits about; 'taxi to runway xx' die hard. In addition; we were twice told to taxi to runway 19 with nothing said about runway 15. Had we been on two engines and been able to accelerate to taxi speed faster; we may have crossed the runway 15 intersection and; at the very least; caused the approaching aircraft to go around. Ground did recognize and apologize for the confusion before turning us over to tower for departure.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Flight crew awaiting departure at DCA reported almost encroaching on Runway 15 while taxiing to Runway 19.

Narrative: During taxi out for Runway 19 at DCA there was a long line awaiting departure. Assigned to Taxiway 'J'; hold short of Runway 15. With just over 5K fuel scheduled for arrival at our destination; decided to shutdown #2 engine until closer to departure. The aircraft ahead was cleared to cross Runway 15 but since we were still on one engine; we elected to remain in our original spot on Taxiway 'J'. After waiting approximately 5 minutes; we were cleared by Ground Control; '...to taxi to and hold short of Runway 19.' We were NOT given any clearance to cross Runway 15 but didn't think about that relatively new requirement. Still; we queried ground as to our clearance and was again told to; 'taxi to and hold short of Runway 19.' As Captain added power to begin taxi I noted an aircraft on what I believed the River Visual for Runway 19. We started moving toward the Runway 15 Intersection and as we got fairly close I commented to the Captain that it appeared the aircraft on final was actually landing on Runway 15. As he began to brake ground told us to hold short Runway 15; which we did. In retrospect we should have questioned his original clearance to Runway 19 but old habits about; 'taxi to Runway xx' die hard. In addition; we were TWICE told to taxi to Runway 19 with nothing said about Runway 15. Had we been on two engines and been able to accelerate to taxi speed faster; we may have crossed the Runway 15 Intersection and; at the very least; caused the approaching aircraft to go around. Ground did recognize and apologize for the confusion before turning us over to Tower for departure.

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.