2011-07 · NASA ASRS report 957870
A B737 Crew departed without the FMC programmed for the SID which resulted in a track deviation; a flap overspeed while troubleshooting an inoperative autopilot and a flashing red HUD inoperative annunciation.
This flight was running late and we had already worked three legs. The aircraft had two MELS: one for the 'B' autopilot and one for the HGS (HUD). I was the Pilot Flying. At the gate; I briefed the departure SID off of the commercial chart page with the Captain. I was familiar with the SID and waypoints. We got to the end of the runway. I did a runway update and we had the FMS on the Takeoff page. At 400' I called for LNAV. At 1000' I called; 'Set speed flaps 1; climb thrust.' The aircraft accelerated rapidly as we were very light. The Flight Director was trying to give me a hard turn to the right which I knew was not correct as per the SID. I asked the Captain to verify the SID. I also called for flaps up at this time but it may have gone unheard since we had red lights flashing on the panel for HGS fail. I engaged the 'B' autopilot at this point to allow me to better assess the departure. The autopilot almost immediately kicked off because it was MEL'ed. We momentarily had the Autopilot Disengage horn which added to the confusion. This added to the brief task saturation of both of us. ATC then asked if we were going to rejoin the SID and I believe I answered him and said yes. I clicked on the 'A' autopilot and saw we were in Heading mode. At this point; ATC gave us a clearance to a fix and the Captain entered it in the box. This is when the Captain realized we still had the flaps set at 1. We exceeded the flap limitation speed. The Captain notified Maintenance upon our arrival of the flap overspeed. The HGS flashing on the panel was an immediate distraction for both of us on departure. If the circuit breaker would have been pulled; we would not have had a red flashing light at an important phase of flight distracting us. Anytime you see a red light your eyes are immediately drawn to it. I also selected an inoperative autopilot. I knew it was MEL'ed; but it is not normal to be MEL'ed and it was part of my habit pattern to reach for the 'B' autopilot. Better monitoring did play a role. We did; however; follow all Company procedures; including briefings. I should have concentrated on my primary duty of flying and let the Captain deal with the monitoring and then I would not have oversped the flaps.
Somewhere after taxi the RNAV departure was lost in the FMC. The Takeoff page was selected during the checklist and the LEGS was not reviewed after the taxi started. The routing had been reviewed and briefed after the Before Start Checklist. At about 200'; the Approach Warning light on the HGS annunciator begin to flash along with some of the other lights. At about 400' AGL; the First Officer called for LNAV. I selected LNAV and the aircraft indicated we needed about a 40-degree right turn. The aircraft was very light and was climbing quite swiftly. At 1000' AGL; the First Officer called for flaps 1 and climb thrust. As I selected flaps one and set the climb thrust; the First Officer mentioned the departure didn't look right. I noticed this also and selected the LEGS page. Somehow the departure had dropped out of the FMC and was going toward an intermediate fix. During this the First Officer tried to engage the autopilot. The normal autopilot for him would have been the 'B' autopilot. But it was MEL'ed. At this time; the Approach Warning light illuminated again. As I was trying to put the departure back into the FMC; the First Officer was reading off the fix names and; at about 3000' MSL; I noticed a rumble and realized we had oversped the flaps 1 speed. ATC asked if we were going to get back on the departure. Then he cleared us direct to a fix. I immediately selected flaps up; then went back to typing the direct to fix. The First Officer began to slow the aircraft. We had two deviations. We deviated from the SID and oversped the flaps. Contributing factors were the autopilot inoperable; and the HGS annunciator flashing at an unexpected time.
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Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.
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