Medium large transport flight crew departs without route clearance.

Attributes
ACN	255238
Time
Date	199310
Day	Mon
Local Time Of Day	1801 To 2400
Place
Locale Reference	airport : lax
State Reference	CA
Altitude	msl bound lower : 0 msl bound upper : 2000
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Aircraft 1
Controlling Facilities	tracon : lax
Operator	common carrier : air carrier
Make Model Name	Medium Large Transport, Low Wing, 2 Turbojet Eng
Navigation In Use	Other Other
Flight Phase	climbout : initial
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Affiliation	company : air carrier
Function	flight crew : first officer
Qualification	pilot : atp
Experience	flight time last 90 days : 120 flight time total : 7000 flight time type : 120
ASRS Report	255238
Person 2
Affiliation	company : air carrier
Function	flight crew : captain oversight : pic
Qualification	pilot : atp
Events
Anomaly	non adherence : far non adherence : clearance non adherence : published procedure
Independent Detector	other controllera
Resolutory Action	other
Consequence	faa : reviewed incident with flight crew
Supplementary
Primary Problem	Flight Crew Human Performance
Air Traffic Incident	Pilot Deviation

Narrative:

Flight lax-smf. Left gate without receiving clearance. Lax departure controller questioned squawk. Captain went over to clearance frequency and requested clearance. Clearance questioned our position (of aircraft). Continued flight to smf. Poor crew coordination. On ground, the transponder code was set to 1200, departure altitude set to 2000 out of habit. No one double-checked transponder code was correct or briefed departure clearance. Complacency.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: MLG FLC DEPARTS WITHOUT RTE CLRNC.

Narrative: FLT LAX-SMF. LEFT GATE WITHOUT RECEIVING CLRNC. LAX DEP CTLR QUESTIONED SQUAWK. CAPT WENT OVER TO CLRNC FREQ AND REQUESTED CLRNC. CLRNC QUESTIONED OUR POS (OF ACFT). CONTINUED FLT TO SMF. POOR CREW COORD. ON GND, THE XPONDER CODE WAS SET TO 1200, DEP ALT SET TO 2000 OUT OF HABIT. NO ONE DOUBLE-CHKED XPONDER CODE WAS CORRECT OR BRIEFED DEP CLRNC. COMPLACENCY.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2007 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.