A CL65 flight crew opted to fly a newly published SID from dca only to later learn their company had...

Narrative:

My first officer picked up the clearance while I listened over the speaker. We were cleared via the HAMMI1 departure then as filed. Right away both of us looked at each other as we have operated hundreds of flights from dca but have never been cleared via this SID. We then looked at the ATIS on the ACARS and it indicated that sids should only be flown if assigned by ATC. We then checked to ensure that the SID was in the FMS and that we had charts for the SID. (We had both) still unsure as if we could be assigned this SID we contacted clearance again. We asked clearance delivery to confirm that we were in fact cleared by the HAMMI1. He indicated that we were and we went through the fixes with him over the radio just to triple check.my first officer and I then briefed the departure. We decided to fly the SID as the airport was in a south configuration and VFR. We also discussed the fact that if the airport turned around north we would refuse a SID just to ensure we remained clear of P56. We then loaded the clearance into the FMS. The first officer would hand fly and follow the FMS route via the flight director. We also put the dca 185 radial in the fix page for reference. (So I could look outside and confirm our flight path remained over the river) we departed runway 15 and made the right turn over the river to the first fix. I checked on with our altitude and that we were on the HAMMI1 SID. The controller gave us a climb and a heading of 270.after returning home for the day I decided to check the company email. Company put out an email detailing the fact that we are still testing the new dca sids in the sim and please do not fly them until approved. Nowhere on the chart or the ATIS is there a note that these sids may or may not be approved by different air carriers. I think a note on the plate and on the ATIS just like the note on some ILS approaches that allow a few approved carriers to fly to 1;800 RVR with flight director and auto pilot would be greatly beneficial. I think in the future if both crew members have that much concern over a routing that a third party such as the training department should be contacted prior to flight. Also I think new sids or stars that have been released in chart form and are only approved for some operators at the time should be in the airport NOTAMS.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A CL65 flight crew opted to fly a newly published SID from DCA only to later learn their company had posted an email asking crews not to do so until they completed simulator tests.

Narrative: My First Officer picked up the clearance while I listened over the speaker. We were cleared via the HAMMI1 departure then as filed. Right away both of us looked at each other as we have operated hundreds of flights from DCA but have never been cleared via this SID. We then looked at the ATIS on the ACARS and it indicated that SIDS should only be flown if assigned by ATC. We then checked to ensure that the SID was in the FMS and that we had charts for the SID. (We had both) still unsure as if we could be assigned this SID we contacted Clearance again. We asked Clearance Delivery to confirm that we were in fact cleared by the HAMMI1. He indicated that we were and we went through the fixes with him over the radio just to triple check.My First Officer and I then briefed the departure. We decided to fly the SID as the airport was in a south configuration and VFR. We also discussed the fact that if the airport turned around north we would refuse a SID just to ensure we remained clear of P56. We then loaded the clearance into the FMS. The First Officer would hand fly and follow the FMS route via the flight director. We also put the DCA 185 radial in the fix page for reference. (So I could look outside and confirm our flight path remained over the river) We departed Runway 15 and made the right turn over the river to the first fix. I checked on with our altitude and that we were on the HAMMI1 SID. The controller gave us a climb and a heading of 270.After returning home for the day I decided to check the company email. Company put out an email detailing the fact that we are still testing the new DCA SIDS in the SIM and please do not fly them until approved. Nowhere on the chart or the ATIS is there a note that these SIDS may or may not be approved by different air carriers. I think a note on the plate and on the ATIS just like the note on some ILS approaches that allow a few approved carriers to fly to 1;800 RVR with flight director and auto pilot would be greatly beneficial. I think in the future if both crew members have that much concern over a routing that a third party such as the training department should be contacted prior to flight. Also I think new SIDS or STARS that have been released in chart form and are only approved for some operators at the time should be in the airport NOTAMS.

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	948327
Time
Date	201105
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	DCA.Airport
State Reference	DC
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Regional Jet CL65 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Initial Climb
Route In Use	SID HAMMI ONE
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Not Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Multiengine
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 270 Flight Crew Total 8300 Flight Crew Type 4000
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

A CL65 flight crew opted to fly a newly published SID from dca only to later learn their company had posted an email asking crews not to do so until they completed simulator tests.