ACR X DEPARTED WITHOUT PDC ATC CLRNC.

Narrative

THIS ERROR OCCURRED AS THE RESULT OF OMISSIONS OF BOTH ATC AND THE CREW. AS THE FO; IT IS SOP FOR ME TO OBTAIN THE RTE CLRNC PRIOR TO GATE DEP; VIA PDC IF AVAILABLE. I FAILED TO REMEMBER TO DO THIS ON THIS FLT. AS WE ACCOMPLISHED THE BEFORE START CHKLIST; THE ITEM 'RADIOS/ACARS' WITH THE RESPONSE 'CHKED/SET' WAS ACCOMPLISHED IN ITS NORMAL SEQUENCE AND; AS IS SOP; WAS FOLLOWED WITH A BRIEF DISCUSSION OF THE INITIAL HDG; FIX; ALT; ETC. NEITHER OF US REFED THE XPONDER AT THIS TIME TO NOTE THAT IT INDICATED '0000' WHICH I HAD SET UPON GATE ARR AS A REMINDER TO INPUT A NEW CODE FROM THE NEW CLRNC. AFTER PUSHBACK; I CONTACTED GND CTL FOR TAXI CLRNC AND WAS GIVEN INSTRUCTIONS TO RWY 18L. NO QUERY FROM ATC WAS MADE AS TO WHETHER WE HAD OBTAINED OUR RTE CLRNC. WE PROCEEDED TO RWY 18L; CONTACTED TWR; AND ACCOMPLISHED THE BEFORE TKOF CHKLIST AS WE TAXIED ONTO RWY 18L. THE FINAL ITEM ON THIS CHKLIST IS 'XPONDER/RADAR;' TO WHICH I RESPONDED; 'TA/RA/TCASII.' WE BOTH POINTED TO AND VERIFIED THAT THE XPONDER WAS ON; BUT DID NOT NOTICE THE CODE '0000.' AGAIN; ATC MADE NO QUERY AS TO A RTE CLRNC. UPON BEING TOLD TO CONTACT DEP CTL; I LOOKED TO MY SCRATCH PAD FOR THE PROPER FREQ WHICH I NORMALLY COPY FROM THE PDC AND REALIZED I HAD NOT YET OBTAINED IT. I VERIFIED THAT THE CAPT HAD NOT OBTAINED THE PDC BY GLANCING AT THE XPONDER AND NOTING THE CODE '0000.' I QUICKLY REQUESTED A PDC (IN THIS CASE A POST DEP CLRNC) VIA ACARS AND IT WAS ISSUED BACK BY ABOUT 1000 FT; JUST AS I CONTACTED DEP CTL. WE PROCEEDED WITHOUT FURTHER INCIDENT. THIS IS THE SECOND TIME THIS HAS HAPPENED TO ME AND THE THIRD TIME FOR THE CAPT. WE DISCUSSED WHY AND HOW IT HAD OCCURRED THIS TIME IN AN EFFORT TO DETERMINE WHERE WE HAD FAILED. WE WERE DILIGENTLY USING THE CHKLIST; YET AT NO POINT IN THE CHKLIST WAS EITHER OF OUR ATTN'S DRAWN DIRECTLY TO THE XPONDER 'CODE;' ONLY TO THE SWITCH POS FOR VERIFICATION THAT IT WAS IN THE 'TA/RA' MODE. A NUMBER OF REMEDIES WERE DISCUSSED TO PRECLUDE THIS OMISSION FROM OCCURRING. AMONG THEM WOULD BE TO ALTER THE BEFORE START CHKLIST ITEM WHICH PRECIPITATES DISCUSSION OF THE INITIAL FIX; ALT; ETC TO READ 'RADIOS/ACARS/CLRNC.' THIS WOULD OCCUR AT AN OPPORTUNE TIME; BEFORE PUSHBACK; AS A REMINDER TO GET A RTE CLRNC. THE OTHER SIDE OF THE FAILURE IN THIS SIT WAS THAT THE GND CTLR WAS PASSED OUR STRIP WITHOUT VERIFICATION THAT WE HAD RECEIVED A CLRNC. AS I HAD RPTED IN MY PREVIOUS ASRS RPT IN JUNE 1993; THE SYS THAT LA GUARDIA USES TO INSURE THAT RTE CLRNCS ARE OBTAINED BEFORE TAXI SHOULD BE STANDARD AROUND THE INDUSTRY. PDC ACFT ARE REQUIRED TO CALL CLRNC AT LGA TO VERIFY THE SQUAWK CODE AND THE ATIS BEFORE CONTACTING GND CTL. THIS SYS SEEMS TO INSURE POSITIVE CTL OF THE CLRNC FROM CTLR TO PLT. SUPPLEMENTAL INFO FROM ACN 302034: ACR X DEPARTED CLT WITHOUT IFR CLRNC. WE REALIZED RIGHT AFTER LIFTOFF WHEN WE NOTICED SQUAWK IN XPONDER SET AT 0000. WE SET 0000 AFTER REACH LNDG TO PROMPT US TO VERIFY THAT WE HAVE CLRNC FOR NEXT DEP. DURING BEFORE START CHKLIST WE FAILED TO REVIEW ATC CLRNC.