After a straight out departure in IMC from an airport surrounded by high terrain; the flight crew en...

Attributes
ACN	1312509
Time
Date	201511
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	RNO.Airport
State Reference	NV
Environment
Flight Conditions	IMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Takeoff
Route In Use	SID ZEFFR FOUR
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Not Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 190 Flight Crew Type 190
Person 2
Function	First Officer Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 208 Flight Crew Type 208
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Track / Heading All Types

Narrative:

We departed in a B737.the weather was gusty winds with IMC off the end of the runway. At 400 feet AGL; we engaged LNAV and confirmed LNAV to a fix. Passing approximately 6000 feet; I was distracted by my duties during a very high workload environment. I was contacting departure control; setting the thrust levers to climb thrust; retracting flaps; setting gear handle to off; and placing autobrake switch to off.I then looked at my HSI and noticed we were off course to the right approaching one dot deflection. I then looked over at the first officer's (first officer) PF's (pilot flying) attitude indicator and saw the aircraft was in a 30 degree right bank turn. The first officer (PF) was following his flight director which was commanding a 30 degree right bank turn. I immediately directed the first officer (PF) to turn left; explaining we were off course. He complied and banked left disregarding the flight director commands. As we were trying to figure out why the flight director was giving us erroneous commands; norcal departure told us we were right of course and to turn to a heading of 110 degrees. Once we selected heading sel the flight director gave us correct commands.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: After a straight out departure in IMC from an airport surrounded by high terrain; the flight crew engaged the FMS and the aircraft made a right turn which was not immediately recognized as an error. The pilot monitoring and departure control advised of the incorrect heading. The flight crew was unable to identify why the FMS turned the aircraft to the right.

Narrative: We departed in a B737.The weather was gusty winds with IMC off the end of the runway. At 400 feet AGL; we engaged LNAV and confirmed LNAV to a fix. Passing approximately 6000 feet; I was distracted by my duties during a very high workload environment. I was contacting Departure Control; setting the thrust levers to climb thrust; retracting flaps; setting gear handle to Off; and placing autobrake switch to off.I then looked at my HSI and noticed we were off course to the right approaching one dot deflection. I then looked over at the FO's (First Officer) PF's (Pilot Flying) attitude indicator and saw the aircraft was in a 30 degree right bank turn. The F/O (PF) was following his flight director which was commanding a 30 degree right bank turn. I immediately directed the F/O (PF) to turn left; explaining we were off course. He complied and banked left disregarding the flight director commands. As we were trying to figure out why the flight director was giving us erroneous commands; NorCal Departure told us we were right of course and to turn to a heading of 110 degrees. Once we selected HDG SEL the flight director gave us correct commands.

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.