Narrative:

Immediately after takeoff; the captain's audio selector panel failed completely and emitted a loud; continuous shrill squeal through the headset and speaker. All transmission and reception through the captain's audio select panel were disabled. First officer flew the aircraft and handled communications during this high workload phase of flight while relief pilot monitored and assisted with attempts at restoring my communications. It quickly became obvious that the captain's audio select panel was not going to be available and continued flight without captain's audio through speaker or headset and transmissions via microphone; headset or oxygen mask would not be available and compromised safety. Of course; flight in the nat system would be out of the question. We climbed to our initial cruise altitude and a less demanding environment to sort out the alternatives. With the options being to divert or return to the airport; both involving a dangerous overweight emergency landing; I decided that it might be practical to try swapping audio selector panels with the spare observer panel. While in flight maintenance and troubleshooting would not be the approved method of problem resolution; having been involved in audio panel failures previously as well as two overweight landings; swapping audio panels to avoid an emergency landing; seemed worth a try. This restored all the captain's communication functions and we continued on without further problems. I regarded the action taken as the most appropriate way to have quickly resumed the safe operation of the flight and assume full responsibility for this action. I appreciate the input given by the first officer as well as his single pilot skills; having been suddenly and unexpectedly thrust into the situation; immediately after takeoff.

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B767 flight crew experiences an audio selector panel failure; which produces a loud squeal on the Captain's side; just after takeoff. The Captain's headset is plugged into the second observer's communication panel; eliminating the problem. During cruise the two panels are swapped; restoring the Captain's panel to normal operation and a logbook entry is made.

Narrative: Immediately after takeoff; the Captain's audio selector panel failed completely and emitted a loud; continuous shrill squeal through the headset and speaker. All transmission and reception through the Captain's audio select panel were disabled. First Officer flew the aircraft and handled communications during this high workload phase of flight while Relief Pilot monitored and assisted with attempts at restoring my communications. It quickly became obvious that the Captain's audio select panel was not going to be available and continued flight without Captain's audio through speaker or headset and transmissions via microphone; headset or oxygen mask would not be available and compromised safety. Of course; flight in the NAT system would be out of the question. We climbed to our initial cruise altitude and a less demanding environment to sort out the alternatives. With the options being to divert or return to the airport; both involving a dangerous overweight emergency landing; I decided that it might be practical to try swapping audio selector panels with the spare observer panel. While in flight maintenance and troubleshooting would not be the approved method of problem resolution; having been involved in audio panel failures previously as well as two overweight landings; swapping audio panels to avoid an emergency landing; seemed worth a try. This restored all the Captain's communication functions and we continued on without further problems. I regarded the action taken as the most appropriate way to have quickly resumed the safe operation of the flight and assume full responsibility for this action. I appreciate the input given by the First Officer as well as his single pilot skills; having been suddenly and unexpectedly thrust into the situation; immediately after takeoff.

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.