wrote in message
ups.com...
However, I take issue with
the statement that a clearance is required to taxi. When you
call ground control, you get taxi instructions, not a clearance.

No, that's incorrect. FAR 91.129i:

"Takeoff, landing, taxi clearance. No person may, at any airport with an
operating control tower, operate an aircraft on a runway or taxiway, or take
off or land an aircraft, unless an appropriate clearance is received from
ATC. A clearance to 'taxi to' the takeoff runway assigned to the aircraft is
not a clearance to cross that assigned takeoff runway, or to taxi on that
runway at any point, but is a clearance to cross other runways that
intersect the taxi route to that assigned takeoff runway. A clearance to
'taxi to' any point other than an assigned takeoff runway is clearance to
cross all runways that intersect the taxi route to that point."

The ATCH specifically prohibits the use of the word "cleared" by ground
controllers.

Yes, AIM 4-3-18a5 mentions that quirk of radio phraseology. Nonetheless, AIM
4-3-18 speaks of clearances to taxi, reaffirming what FAR 91.129i says.

--Gary