FLC OF AN MLG ACR ACFT FAILED TO RETRIEVE THEIR PDC FROM ACARS PRIOR TO TKOF RESULTING IN NOT HAVING THE CORRECT DEP FREQ OR XPONDER CODE AFTER TKOF.
Synopsis
FLC OF AN MLG ACR ACFT FAILED TO RETRIEVE THEIR PDC FROM ACARS PRIOR TO TKOF RESULTING IN NOT HAVING THE CORRECT DEP FREQ OR XPONDER CODE AFTER TKOF.
Narrative
WE WERE FLT PHL-ALB (CAPT IS FLYING). TAXI OUT AND TKOF WERE UNEVENTFUL AND NOTHING APPEARED TO BE WRONG. WHEN TWR TURNED US OVER TO DEP CTL; I DIALED IN THE FREQ (INTO #1 COM); SET IN #3 COM (THIS IS COMMON PRACTICE -- TO SET THE #3 COM TO DEP CTL FREQ SO IT IS READILY AVAILABLE WHERE YOU NEED TO SET IT IN #1 -- #1 IS USED FOR ATC COMS). I WAS UNABLE TO REACH ANYBODY AND RETURNED TO TWR TO VERIFY THE FREQ. A DIFFERENT FREQ WAS GIVEN SO I CALLED DEP ON THIS NEW FREQ. DEP SAID 'VERIFY SQUAWK XX.' THIS WAS NOT THE SQUAWK IN OUR XPONDER; SO I CHANGED IT AND SAID: 'WE'RE SQUAWKING XXXX.' IT WAS THEN I REALIZED I HAD NEVER RETRIEVED OUR CLRNC FROM THE PDC. I ADVISED THE CAPT OF THIS. HE CALLED DEP CTL AND ASKED THEM TO VERIFY WE WERE CLRED AS FILED. HE VERIFIED THIS. I TRIED SEVERAL TIMES THEN TO GET OUR CLRNC OUT OF OUR ACARS THROUGH PDC; BUT THE ONLY MESSAGE IT SENT WAS 'NO PDC ON FILE; CONTACT CLRNC DELIVERY' WHICH IS NORMAL WHEN A CLRNC IS ALREADY PULLED OUT AS WELL AS WHEN IT IS TOO EARLY OR SEVERAL OTHER INSTANCES. SETTING XPONDER TO ALL '0' MIGHT HAVE PREVENTED THIS OR NEVER EVER SET EXPECTED ALT IN ALT ALERTER; EVEN IF YOU GET THAT 99.9 PERCENT OF THE TIME. I WAS SURPRISED HOWEVER THAT NEITHER GND NOR TWR CAUGHT IT AND SAID SOMETHING.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.