A flight crew departing dfw was unclear as to their departure clearance and simply flew the initial ...

Narrative:

At dfw we departed runway 17R. We had been given the NOBLY3 departure on our pre departure clearance. We were holding short runway 17R; tower then cleared us for takeoff. Tower did not give us a position and hold or a heading to fly or any instruction to join the nobly departure. We took off 17R then turned left as per the initial departure heading for nobly 3. Tower then handed us over to regional departure; but again did not provide a heading or any instructions. Departure control simply acknowledged our call but did not give any heading instructions. When we realized we were coming off the departure we contacted control and asked what course they wanted us to follow. Departure control gave us a heading then instructed us to fly direct nobly; which we immediately did. We continued on course without incident. I believe the event occurred due to vague instructions by tower for our departure. They should have assigned us a heading or specifically told us to follow the nobly 3 departure. The problem compounded when departure control assumed that tower had assigned this to us. In addition the captain and myself should have questioned this sooner to avoid confusion instead of assuming that they would clear us after takeoff. To avoid this situation in the future there needs to be adherence to standard phraseology by both controllers and pilots and increased communications when there is doubt to instructions received by pilots.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A flight crew departing DFW was unclear as to their departure clearance and simply flew the initial departure procedure; but then became confused as to heading assigned.

Narrative: At DFW we departed Runway 17R. We had been given the NOBLY3 departure on our PDC. We were holding short Runway 17R; tower then cleared us for takeoff. Tower did not give us a position and hold or a heading to fly or any instruction to join the NOBLY departure. We took off 17R then turned left as per the initial departure heading for NOBLY 3. Tower then handed us over to regional departure; but again did not provide a heading or any instructions. Departure Control simply acknowledged our call but did not give any heading instructions. When we realized we were coming off the departure we contacted control and asked what course they wanted us to follow. Departure Control gave us a heading then instructed us to fly direct NOBLY; which we immediately did. We continued on course without incident. I believe the event occurred due to vague instructions by Tower for our departure. They should have assigned us a heading or specifically told us to follow the NOBLY 3 departure. The problem compounded when Departure Control assumed that Tower had assigned this to us. In addition the Captain and myself should have questioned this sooner to avoid confusion instead of assuming that they would clear us after takeoff. To avoid this situation in the future there needs to be adherence to standard phraseology by both controllers and pilots and increased communications when there is doubt to instructions received by pilots.

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.

Attributes
ACN	836295
Time
Date	200905
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	DFW.Airport
State Reference	TX
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Light Transport Low Wing 2 Turbojet Eng
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Climb
Route In Use	SID NOBLY
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	First Officer Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Commercial
Person 2
Function	Captain Pilot Not Flying
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Deviation - Track / Heading All Types

A flight crew departing dfw was unclear as to their departure clearance and simply flew the initial departure procedure; but then became confused as to heading assigned.