Narrative:

The weather was forecast cavok and didn't see a cloud in the sky. Aircraft no comm. Made decision to proceed; thinking we would get ACARS back after push. Captain spent the entire time until taxi out with dispatch; verifying and collecting data. Dispatch couldn't (wouldn't?) send performance data to captain; but relayed verbally. After actual push stayed no comm (until climbing through 27K). Made decision to continue with flight after push when we realized we were no comm based on weather; familiarity with airports; and no other traffic on ground. Took us 27 minutes to verify everything. Made trip uneventfully. Several thoughts:*we had to trust dispatch was passing valid numbers. They seemed reasonable; but I wasn't in the phone loop; so it could have been the winning lottery numbers for all I knew.*no way to communicate to dispatch without using cell phone. *No way to verify any of the info on the takeoff checklist; other than give it a sanity check.*dispatch couldn't send performance data to captain's cell phone; but kept sending the flight plan. After getting ACARS back we got lots of takeoff data messages (sending to aircraft printer?)*there is no checklist for ACARS inoperative/no comm for the A320; but there should be.*searched fom and FM for no comm and ACARS inoperative. Nothing useful found. Except update the [off] times; and since it was our first flight of the day; that was the least of our worries. And monitor commercial radio frequency in case dispatch wanted to call us. We did both.*the performance figures passed were 146; 146; 146. The numbers we were asking for showed up at 27K with ACARS were 142; 143; 146. At least we were on the high side. Not sure if dispatch knows how to read a runway performance message; or if he was reading the correct line...*there was no way to support the captain; or verify the info in ACARS. *Kept getting the mcdu asking us to initialize while flying. Can we? Should we? What if we don't? We just deleted the request message. Worked normally. Went through airbus training for the 3rd time 2 months ago. Nothing in the training syllabus prepares you for ACARS inoperative. Every time we wanted to talk to dispatch; we sent an ACARS message 'call me'. We always got performance numbers through the printer. If company insists on sending aircraft out with ACARS inoperative or no comm; please give us the training and checklists. The captain and I both agreed we wouldn't push again hoping ACARS would work; or knowing it was deferred. Next time; we are going to get maintenance involved and fix the aircraft. There were too many threats to list. We think we covered everything; but not the right way to fly the aircraft.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A320 flight crew experiences an ACARS failure at the gate and has difficulty obtaining takeoff data from the Dispatcher. The Captain believes that the ACARS unit is essential to safe operations and the aircraft should not be dispatched with out it.

Narrative: The weather was forecast CAVOK and didn't see a cloud in the sky. Aircraft NO COMM. Made decision to proceed; thinking we would get ACARS back after push. Captain spent the entire time until taxi out with dispatch; verifying and collecting data. Dispatch couldn't (wouldn't?) send performance data to captain; but relayed verbally. After actual push stayed NO COMM (until climbing through 27K). Made decision to continue with flight after push when we realized we were NO COMM based on weather; familiarity with airports; and no other traffic on ground. Took us 27 minutes to verify everything. Made trip uneventfully. Several thoughts:*We had to trust dispatch was passing valid numbers. They seemed reasonable; but I wasn't in the phone loop; so it could have been the winning lottery numbers for all I knew.*No way to communicate to dispatch without using cell phone. *No way to verify any of the info on the takeoff checklist; other than give it a sanity check.*Dispatch couldn't send performance data to captain's cell phone; but kept sending the flight plan. After getting ACARS back we got lots of takeoff data messages (sending to aircraft printer?)*There is no checklist for ACARS INOP/NO COMM for the A320; but there should be.*Searched FOM and FM for NO COMM and ACARS INOP. Nothing useful found. Except update the [off] times; and since it was our first flight of the day; that was the least of our worries. And monitor commercial radio frequency in case dispatch wanted to call us. We did both.*The performance figures passed were 146; 146; 146. The numbers we were asking for showed up at 27K with ACARS were 142; 143; 146. At least we were on the high side. Not sure if dispatch knows how to read a runway performance message; or if he was reading the correct line...*There was no way to support the captain; or verify the info in ACARS. *Kept getting the MCDU asking us to initialize while flying. Can we? Should we? What if we don't? We just deleted the request message. Worked normally. Went through airbus training for the 3rd time 2 months ago. Nothing in the training syllabus prepares you for ACARS INOP. Every time we wanted to talk to dispatch; we sent an ACARS message 'call me'. We always got performance numbers through the printer. If company insists on sending aircraft out with ACARS INOP or NO COMM; please give us the training and checklists. The captain and I both agreed we wouldn't push again hoping ACARS would work; or knowing it was deferred. Next time; we are going to get maintenance involved and fix the aircraft. There were too many threats to list. We think we covered everything; but not the right way to fly the aircraft.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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.