AN ACR LGT FLEW WITHOUT A PROPER AIRWAYS CLRNC.

Narrative

PREPARED ACFT TO DEPART JFK TO LAX. DELAYED DUE TO COMPUTER BEING DOWN AND LACK OF FINAL PAPERWORK. AT 10 MINS AFTER DEP TIME; WE WERE HANDED A STACK OF PAPERS; AGENT PICKED UP OUR FLT RELEASE SHEET AND RAN OUT TO CLOSE THE DOOR. I COMPLETED PERFORMANCE DATA FOR TKOF AS WELL AS OTHER DUTIES OF FO AND CAPT REVIEWED OUR PREDEP CLRNC. I OVERHEARD THE COMMENT THAT THE CLRNC CONTAINED AN UNUSUAL INITIAL HDG. WE PUSHED BACK; VERY RUSHED; AS WE WERE ALREADY LATE. A RELATIVELY SHORT TAXI WHICH ALSO HAD OUR ATTN DIRECTED TO AN ENG THAT WAS DIFFICULT TO START. WE COMPLETED ALL CHKLISTS AND TAXIED OUT ONTO THE DEP RWY AWAITING TKOF CLRNC. AT THIS POINT; THE FO NOTICED THAT WE HAD OBTAINED A PREDEP CLRNC THAT WAS FOR ANOTHER FLT. THE CAPT STATED WE SHOULD TAXI CLR OF RWY AND CALL FOR CLRNC; I STRONGLY AGREED. FO TOLD ME TO CALL CLRNC DELIVERY AND GAVE ME THEIR FREQ. I IMMEDIATELY CALLED CLRNC DELIVERY AND WAS ADVISED BY THEM THAT MY CLRNC WAS ON REQUEST. VERY SHORTLY CLRNC CAME BACK AND STATED THAT HE SHOWED WE HAD ALREADY RECEIVED OUR CLRNC. I HAD BEEN EXPECTING THAT WE WOULD BE TAXIING OFF RWY AT THIS TIME. INSTEAD; AS I HEARD CLRNC DELIVERY SAY WE HAD CLRNC; I NOTICED THROTTLES COMING UP FOR TKOF. I COULD NOT RESPOND TO CLRNC DELIVERY; INSTEAD I COMPLETED THE FINAL ITEMS OF THE TKOF CHKLIST AS WE BEGAN OUR TKOF ROLL. FLT WAS COMPLETED WITH NO FURTHER INCIDENT. I AM NOT SURE OF OUR FLT PLAN CLRNC STATUS FOR THIS FLT. CAPT STATED AFTER TKOF HE HAD CALLED TWR TO CHK ON SQUAWK. JFK TWR GAVE HIM THE SQUAWK HE SHOWED FOR US AND WE WERE CLRED FOR TKOF. JFK TWR HAD RESPONDED TO CAPT'S INITIAL REQUEST TO TAXI CLR OF RWY WITH A RESPONSE THAT THEY DIDN'T KNOW WHAT THE PROB WAS. I FEEL WE SHOULD HAVE BEEN GIVEN UNQUESTIONED CLRNC TO TAXI CLR OF ACTIVE RWY. I ALSO FEEL JFK NEEDS TO PUT IN PLACE A XCHK OF CLRNC SUCH AS OTHER ARPTS HAVE BY REQUIRING FLTS TO CHK IN WITH CLRNC DELIVERY/GND; ETC...WITH APPROPRIATE SQUAWK OR OTHER SPECIFIC INFO TO ENSURE CLRNC WAS RECEIVED.