An A320 captain took umbrage at being cleared for the cadit RNAV SID from runway 26L at atl and; whe...

Narrative:

[We] received cadit RNAV departure on our pre departure clearance. Informed ground control that we were assigned and expecting that departure. We carefully reviewed the NOTAMS; ATIS; departure page; 10-7 page; and the 10-3 page that describes the RNAV procedures at atl. After we were in position on the runway; the tower cleared us for take off and added: 'fly heading 295 at the marker.' we asked him to clarify and he just repeated the same thing. I asked him did he mean one of the markers for 8R. He said 'yes; the middle marker.' I informed him that we were assigned the cadit RNAV. His answer was that they were doing triple parallel departures. We turned up our marker beacon audio (there are no marker beacon lights on the airbus) and departed. After takeoff I again reviewed all our paperwork and there is no mention anywhere of this marker beacon thing! One note on the 10-3 page says that if triple parallel departures are being conducted to expect a heading; nothing about a marker. If this is a standard departure; why isn't it in the 10-7 page or somewhere? It should be on the ATIS at least. Why didn't ground control warn us that we could expect it? We don't use the marker beacon audio on the airbus so how do we know if it's going to work? Had we had some warning we could have set something up to identify the point.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An A320 Captain took umbrage at being cleared for the CADIT RNAV SID from Runway 26L at ATL and; when cleared for takeoff; was cleared to fly a 295 heading after the marker.

Narrative: [We] received CADIT RNAV departure on our PDC. Informed Ground Control that we were assigned and expecting that departure. We carefully reviewed the NOTAMS; ATIS; departure page; 10-7 page; and the 10-3 page that describes the RNAV procedures at ATL. AFTER we were in position on the runway; the Tower cleared us for take off and added: 'Fly heading 295 at the marker.' We asked him to clarify and he just repeated the same thing. I asked him did he mean one of the markers for 8R. He said 'yes; the middle marker.' I informed him that we were assigned the CADIT RNAV. His answer was that they were doing triple parallel departures. We turned up our marker beacon audio (there are NO marker beacon lights on the Airbus) and departed. After takeoff I again reviewed all our paperwork and there is NO MENTION ANYWHERE OF THIS MARKER BEACON THING! One note on the 10-3 page says that if triple parallel departures are being conducted to expect a HEADING; NOTHING about a marker. If this is a standard departure; why isn't it in the 10-7 page or somewhere? It should be on the ATIS at least. Why didn't Ground Control warn us that we could expect it? We don't use the marker beacon audio on the Airbus so how do we know if it's going to work? Had we had some warning we could have set something up to identify the point.

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	948486
Time
Date	201105
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ATL.Airport
State Reference	GA
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	A320
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Takeoff
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 200 Flight Crew Total 15000 Flight Crew Type 3500
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

An A320 captain took umbrage at being cleared for the cadit RNAV SID from runway 26L at atl and; when cleared for takeoff; was cleared to fly a 295 heading after the marker.