Narrative:

During preflight at lga we couldn't use cpdlc due to it not being enabled on our FMS. The first officer called clearance and we were cleared as filed via the lga 5 SID off runway 31 except maintain heading 340. We entered everything in the box and briefed the departure. However after start when we called for taxi; we were given instructions to go to runway 13 and to use the lga 5 with the whitestone transition. The first officer tried to put that in the FMS but we kept getting a message saying that SID wasn't available for that runway; even though the jepp chart clearly showed it was. So we left the discontinuity in the box and briefed the departure. We did not have the whitestone transition showing in our nav display. My head wasn't fully in the game at that point because I was concentrating on complying with the taxi instructions. Eventually we did cover turning to 180 after takeoff and then the turn to 040 at 2.5 DME in our brief. It was over 20 minutes from that point until we were cleared to takeoff. It was the first officer's takeoff and once we got airborne and up to 2.5 DME; I looked down at the SID on my ipad and for some reason; the 340 heading on the maspeth transition caught my eye; probably due to the initial clearance to that heading from clearance delivery. I started spinning the heading bug to the right; which confused my first officer. Rather than turn; he continued straight. I soon realized my mistake and started turning the bug back to the left; but before I could call departure to alert them to the late turn; they called us directing an immediate left turn to heading 040; which we did. Pay better attention!

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B737NG Flight Crew reported a heading deviation after takeoff due to distractions with clearance changes and FMS programing on the ground.

Narrative: During preflight at LGA we couldn't use CPDLC due to it not being enabled on our FMS. The FO called clearance and we were cleared as filed via the LGA 5 SID off runway 31 except maintain heading 340. We entered everything in the box and briefed the departure. However after start when we called for taxi; we were given instructions to go to runway 13 and to use the LGA 5 with the Whitestone transition. The FO tried to put that in the FMS but we kept getting a message saying that SID wasn't available for that runway; even though the Jepp chart clearly showed it was. So we left the discontinuity in the box and briefed the departure. We did not have the Whitestone transition showing in our Nav display. My head wasn't fully in the game at that point because I was concentrating on complying with the taxi instructions. Eventually we did cover turning to 180 after takeoff and then the turn to 040 at 2.5 DME in our brief. It was over 20 minutes from that point until we were cleared to takeoff. It was the FO's takeoff and once we got airborne and up to 2.5 DME; I looked down at the SID on my iPad and for some reason; the 340 heading on the Maspeth transition caught my eye; probably due to the initial clearance to that heading from clearance delivery. I started spinning the heading bug to the right; which confused my FO. Rather than turn; he continued straight. I soon realized my mistake and started turning the bug back to the left; but before I could call departure to alert them to the late turn; they called us directing an immediate left turn to heading 040; which we did. Pay better attention!

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.