An air carrier aircraft departed ATL Runway 28L and mistakenly turned to heading 250 when the actual cleared heading was 295. ATC issue a heading change due to the loss of separation from a simultaneously departing aircraft.
Synopsis
An air carrier aircraft departed ATL Runway 28L and mistakenly turned to heading 250 when the actual cleared heading was 295. ATC issue a heading change due to the loss of separation from a simultaneously departing aircraft.
Narrative
During takeoff from Atlanta Runway 26L Tower issued clearance 'Clear for Takeoff fly heading 295'. Due to bad radio or distraction (honestly I couldn't say at this time) I believed it was heading 250. After departure we headed 250 for few seconds only. Usually Tower instructs after takeoff to 'Heading xxx and Contact Departure' This time tower only said 'Contact Departure'. We were on that heading for only a few seconds. I recognized the mistake and immediately corrected to a heading of 300 degrees. After an uneventful flight and landing. I contacted ATL Tower and been told that a separation incident had occurred. The separation was down to 2.14 miles and 300 FT. Either a distraction in my part or bad radio transmission where 295 sounded like 25 and I assumed (a big mistake) that it was meant 250. Also all the fast talking radio instructions. NEVER ASSUME; always verify and believe me I'm the always very strict about verifying radio calls. I would say that the one day that I didn't verify it came to hound me.
Second reporter narrative
During takeoff from Atlanta Runway 26L Tower issued clearance 'Clear for takeoff fly heading 295'. Due to bad radio or distraction; Captain was working on his flow plus the radio and First Officer was doing his flow in order to get ready for take-off; we thought Tower said heading of 250. After take-off; Tower said to contact Departure without saying assigned heading thus we kept going to heading of 250. And then after few seconds we realized that was not correct heading so first we corrected to heading of 270 and then 300. Everything went smoothly after we corrected to right heading. High workload and distraction and on-time pressure. Do your checklist ahead of time and don't ever rush through and also double check with ATC when in doubt.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.