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Air carrier departing sfo on runway 1L was confused with regard to the phraseology used by the tower controller and the intent of same.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1122786 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201310 |
| Local Time Of Day | 0601-1200 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | SFO.Airport |
| State Reference | CA |
| Environment | |
| Flight Conditions | VMC |
| Light | Daylight |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | B737-700 |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
| Flight Phase | Climb |
| Route In Use | SID PORTE |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Captain |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) |
| Experience | Flight Crew Last 90 Days 164 |
| Person 2 | |
| Function | First Officer |
| Experience | Flight Crew Last 90 Days 177 Flight Crew Type 7780 |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Deviation - Track / Heading All Types |
Narrative:
Just after takeoff from runway 01L at sfo; the tower controller told us; 'left turn to porte; climb to one five thousand; contact departure.' I thought that seemed like an odd clearance from tower; but the first officer had already switched to departure. I verified with the first officer that the tower had indeed cleared us left to porte; started the turn; and asked him to confirm our clearance with departure. Departure told us to turn left heading 280 and climb to one five thousand. The departure controller asked if tower had given us that clearance. We said yes and he asked what were the words that the tower controller used. He then said that was the second time that morning that a crew said they had [received] that clearance and started an early turn. The flight continued uneventfully with no known conflicts. Knowing that was a strange clearance; I feel we should have remained on the published departure and queried the tower before changing frequencies. Our workload at that critical phase and the fact that the tower frequency was congested added to the confusion. We are still not sure if the tower cleared us left to porte or used non-standard terminology to clear us left to join the departure. If the tower wanted us to turn left to join the sfo R350 to sepdy and remain on the departure; he should have used standard terminology.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: Air carrier departing SFO on Runway 1L was confused with regard to the phraseology used by the Tower Controller and the intent of same.
Narrative: Just after takeoff from Runway 01L at SFO; the Tower Controller told us; 'Left turn to PORTE; climb to one five thousand; contact Departure.' I thought that seemed like an odd clearance from Tower; but the First Officer had already switched to Departure. I verified with the First Officer that the Tower had indeed cleared us left to PORTE; started the turn; and asked him to confirm our clearance with Departure. Departure told us to turn left heading 280 and climb to one five thousand. The Departure Controller asked if Tower had given us that clearance. We said yes and he asked what were the words that the Tower Controller used. He then said that was the second time that morning that a crew said they had [received] that clearance and started an early turn. The flight continued uneventfully with no known conflicts. Knowing that was a strange clearance; I feel we should have remained on the published departure and queried the Tower before changing frequencies. Our workload at that critical phase and the fact that the Tower frequency was congested added to the confusion. We are still not sure if the Tower cleared us left to PORTE or used non-standard terminology to clear us left to join the departure. If the Tower wanted us to turn left to join the SFO R350 to SEPDY and remain on the departure; he should have used standard terminology.
Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.