Narrative:

On the morning of feb/xa/09; at approximately XA35EST; our flight taxied out for takeoff in florence; sc. The weather conditions were favoring a departure off of runway 9. Upon arriving at the hold short of the runway point on the taxiway; I set the parking brake. Florence has trouble with 2-way radio communications from ZJX; so they set up a telephone number to call in on to get IFR clearances. On the morning of feb/xa/09; aircraft X taxied out to runway 9 in florence. Upon reaching the hold short line of the runway; I called the provided number to FSS which 'relays' clearances for centers. I was told that it would be a little while because carrier Y had already called for their clearance. The carrier Y flight they were referring to carrier Y that was still sitting at the gate that had called for their clearance and now had blocked off the airspace for departure. This procedure is not acceptable; the carrier Y flight departs at XA42; while we depart at XA40. The 2 days in a row that we were in florence; we flight X were at the runway ready for departure while the carrier Y flight was still at the gate. I do not know what carrier Y's procedures are about cell phone use in the flight deck for operational needs while the aircraft is not moving but away from the gate; but common courtesy and professionalism would dictate that you don't block the airspace for yourself when someone else needs to depart prior to you. Some suggestions: have the tower open 1 hour earlier. Install an rco for ZJX in flo. We were actually able to contact ZJX using our #1 communication and get them to release us with visual separation; but this situation is not conducive to smooth and reliable operations.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air carrier departure from FLO; prior to Tower opening; expressed frustration regarding IFR release procedures that sometimes result in an aircraft at the gate being released prior to an aircraft number one at the runway.

Narrative: On the morning of Feb/XA/09; at approximately XA35EST; our flight taxied out for takeoff in Florence; SC. The weather conditions were favoring a departure off of Runway 9. Upon arriving at the hold short of the runway point on the taxiway; I set the parking brake. Florence has trouble with 2-way radio communications from ZJX; so they set up a telephone number to call in on to get IFR clearances. On the morning of Feb/XA/09; Aircraft X taxied out to Runway 9 in Florence. Upon reaching the hold short line of the runway; I called the provided number to FSS which 'relays' clearances for Centers. I was told that it would be a little while because Carrier Y had already called for their clearance. The Carrier Y flight they were referring to Carrier Y that was still sitting at the gate that had called for their clearance and now had blocked off the airspace for departure. This procedure is not acceptable; the Carrier Y flight departs at XA42; while we depart at XA40. The 2 days in a row that we were in Florence; we Flight X were at the runway ready for departure while the Carrier Y flight was still at the gate. I do not know what Carrier Y's procedures are about cell phone use in the flight deck for operational needs while the aircraft is not moving but away from the gate; but common courtesy and professionalism would dictate that you don't block the airspace for yourself when someone else needs to depart prior to you. Some suggestions: Have the Tower open 1 hour earlier. Install an RCO for ZJX in FLO. We were actually able to contact ZJX using our #1 Communication and get them to release us with visual separation; but this situation is not conducive to smooth and reliable operations.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.