Narrative:

We started the flight as usual. The student preflted his aircraft, then called for fuel. We got in the aircraft. He followed the checklist, started the aircraft and listened to ATIS. He wrote down all the information as I've taught him to do. He then called ground and requested clearance through the class B airspace. He was told to make left turn after departure to a heading of 170 degrees and climb to 2000 ft, squawk XXXX and departure frequency. He then called ground again, told them of our location and said that we were ready to taxi. I then started to readjust my headset and when I was through I asked him if we had gotten clearance to taxi and he said 'yes we were cleared to runway 33.' we kept taxiing through the taxiway until the ground controller came back shouting who was the aircraft taxiing. I quickly applied the brakes and asked my student to tell the controller who we were. The controller was angry and told my student pilot that he was taxiing without prior permission! I looked at my student and asked him again 'did we or did we not get clearance?' (I had been adjusting my headset when we had supposedly gotten clearance.) my student again replied that we had and that he had written it down! I asked him to relay that information to the ground controller and the controller came back saying that he had given him clearance for the class B airspace but not to taxi. He also said that because they were not busy that he would excuse him this time but that in the future he better get clearance! We continued and he did our run-up (to be honest, I really thought that my student had in fact gotten clearance and that perhaps the controller was having a bad day because he seemed to be yelling at everyone). I did not rule out that my student misunderstood and so I watched him carefully on the run- up. (He was in very good spirits.) he put the tower frequency on one of his radios and departure frequency on his other radio. He got clearance from the tower for takeoff and we were off. He made his turn and kept climbing to 2000 ft as he was instructed to do so and then switched to departure as instructed. After not getting through on the third try and because we were getting too close to love airport I told my student to turn to a heading of 090 degrees (although we were told to fly a heading of 170 degrees we had not been told to fly over love airport) and contact tower to inform them we were not able to get departure control. They came back with another frequency, and my student contacted as soon as I had changed the frequency (I was also keeping my eyes pealed for traffic because we were now between addison and love airport). My student contacted departure control and they came back yelling that we were told to maintain 2000 ft not 2500 ft! I then took over as quickly as I could and noticed that my student was 'white knuckled.' I throttled to idle on the power and descended down to 2000 ft as I switched the push-to-talk from his side of the intercom to mine. I contacted them and we were told to turn to a heading of 090 degrees (ironically enough, I had just turned to that heading some seconds before). Departure came back and told us to resume our own navigation, which I did, to the southeast. However, some time between that comment and by the time we were by downtown dallas, our radios must have gone out because once again departure control came back yelling why we were not acknowledging his calls?! But we never heard him! From that moment I realized that we might have had radio problems all this time and maybe the ground controller never heard my student when he requested permission to taxi. I flew away from love as instructed and continued to my destination. We flew to the uncontrolled airport as planned, did a couple of takeoffs and lndgs and departed the area. (I had already decided that too many things had ruined the mood for my student's first solo so we cut the flight short.) we stayed away from love and addison and then I requested a suggested heading from addison when we were parallel to addison. Everything went fine on our way back but once we landed and gotten off the active, the controller asked if we had paper and pen to copy a telephone number down. I informed him that we did and copied it down. (My student and I had had radio problems before, I explained to him that it was imperative that this get fixed immediately. In fact I recall him getting it fixed 3 times, but the people doing the job kept saying that there was nothing wrong with the radio. Finally the third time they said that they had fixed the problem.) I called the tower and I was asked what exactly was going on. I tried to explain that we had experienced radio problems and that my student had taken it to get fixed 3 times. We spoke briefly. I asked him if there was anything else I needed to do or contact love, but he said that he had already contacted love and asked them if there was anything they wanted to do about the altitude bust and they said no(?). He also said that he wanted us to call to make sure a student pilot had not gotten loose and I explained I was the instructor. I was so concerned, I also called love to explain our radio problem and was told next time we experienced radio problems leave the airspace (which was what I had intended on doing). We spoke briefly. I have always had my students call a second time if I did not hear the clearance to taxi. It's been a rule of thumb I always follow, this time for the very first time I trusted my student and did not. And, secondly, I should have noticed that my student had gotten very tense when departure control did not answer (coal under pressure doesn't always produce diamonds, unfortunately in this case). My corrective action will be to triple check everything.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: INTERMITTENT COM RADIO NOT DISCOVERED UNTIL AIRBORNE.

Narrative: WE STARTED THE FLT AS USUAL. THE STUDENT PREFLTED HIS ACFT, THEN CALLED FOR FUEL. WE GOT IN THE ACFT. HE FOLLOWED THE CHKLIST, STARTED THE ACFT AND LISTENED TO ATIS. HE WROTE DOWN ALL THE INFO AS I'VE TAUGHT HIM TO DO. HE THEN CALLED GND AND REQUESTED CLRNC THROUGH THE CLASS B AIRSPACE. HE WAS TOLD TO MAKE L TURN AFTER DEP TO A HDG OF 170 DEGS AND CLB TO 2000 FT, SQUAWK XXXX AND DEP FREQ. HE THEN CALLED GND AGAIN, TOLD THEM OF OUR LOCATION AND SAID THAT WE WERE READY TO TAXI. I THEN STARTED TO READJUST MY HEADSET AND WHEN I WAS THROUGH I ASKED HIM IF WE HAD GOTTEN CLRNC TO TAXI AND HE SAID 'YES WE WERE CLRED TO RWY 33.' WE KEPT TAXIING THROUGH THE TXWY UNTIL THE GND CTLR CAME BACK SHOUTING WHO WAS THE ACFT TAXIING. I QUICKLY APPLIED THE BRAKES AND ASKED MY STUDENT TO TELL THE CTLR WHO WE WERE. THE CTLR WAS ANGRY AND TOLD MY STUDENT PLT THAT HE WAS TAXIING WITHOUT PRIOR PERMISSION! I LOOKED AT MY STUDENT AND ASKED HIM AGAIN 'DID WE OR DID WE NOT GET CLRNC?' (I HAD BEEN ADJUSTING MY HEADSET WHEN WE HAD SUPPOSEDLY GOTTEN CLRNC.) MY STUDENT AGAIN REPLIED THAT WE HAD AND THAT HE HAD WRITTEN IT DOWN! I ASKED HIM TO RELAY THAT INFO TO THE GND CTLR AND THE CTLR CAME BACK SAYING THAT HE HAD GIVEN HIM CLRNC FOR THE CLASS B AIRSPACE BUT NOT TO TAXI. HE ALSO SAID THAT BECAUSE THEY WERE NOT BUSY THAT HE WOULD EXCUSE HIM THIS TIME BUT THAT IN THE FUTURE HE BETTER GET CLRNC! WE CONTINUED AND HE DID OUR RUN-UP (TO BE HONEST, I REALLY THOUGHT THAT MY STUDENT HAD IN FACT GOTTEN CLRNC AND THAT PERHAPS THE CTLR WAS HAVING A BAD DAY BECAUSE HE SEEMED TO BE YELLING AT EVERYONE). I DID NOT RULE OUT THAT MY STUDENT MISUNDERSTOOD AND SO I WATCHED HIM CAREFULLY ON THE RUN- UP. (HE WAS IN VERY GOOD SPIRITS.) HE PUT THE TWR FREQ ON ONE OF HIS RADIOS AND DEP FREQ ON HIS OTHER RADIO. HE GOT CLRNC FROM THE TWR FOR TKOF AND WE WERE OFF. HE MADE HIS TURN AND KEPT CLBING TO 2000 FT AS HE WAS INSTRUCTED TO DO SO AND THEN SWITCHED TO DEP AS INSTRUCTED. AFTER NOT GETTING THROUGH ON THE THIRD TRY AND BECAUSE WE WERE GETTING TOO CLOSE TO LOVE ARPT I TOLD MY STUDENT TO TURN TO A HDG OF 090 DEGS (ALTHOUGH WE WERE TOLD TO FLY A HDG OF 170 DEGS WE HAD NOT BEEN TOLD TO FLY OVER LOVE ARPT) AND CONTACT TWR TO INFORM THEM WE WERE NOT ABLE TO GET DEP CTL. THEY CAME BACK WITH ANOTHER FREQ, AND MY STUDENT CONTACTED AS SOON AS I HAD CHANGED THE FREQ (I WAS ALSO KEEPING MY EYES PEALED FOR TFC BECAUSE WE WERE NOW BTWN ADDISON AND LOVE ARPT). MY STUDENT CONTACTED DEP CTL AND THEY CAME BACK YELLING THAT WE WERE TOLD TO MAINTAIN 2000 FT NOT 2500 FT! I THEN TOOK OVER AS QUICKLY AS I COULD AND NOTICED THAT MY STUDENT WAS 'WHITE KNUCKLED.' I THROTTLED TO IDLE ON THE PWR AND DSNDED DOWN TO 2000 FT AS I SWITCHED THE PUSH-TO-TALK FROM HIS SIDE OF THE INTERCOM TO MINE. I CONTACTED THEM AND WE WERE TOLD TO TURN TO A HDG OF 090 DEGS (IRONICALLY ENOUGH, I HAD JUST TURNED TO THAT HDG SOME SECONDS BEFORE). DEP CAME BACK AND TOLD US TO RESUME OUR OWN NAV, WHICH I DID, TO THE SE. HOWEVER, SOME TIME BTWN THAT COMMENT AND BY THE TIME WE WERE BY DOWNTOWN DALLAS, OUR RADIOS MUST HAVE GONE OUT BECAUSE ONCE AGAIN DEP CTL CAME BACK YELLING WHY WE WERE NOT ACKNOWLEDGING HIS CALLS?! BUT WE NEVER HEARD HIM! FROM THAT MOMENT I REALIZED THAT WE MIGHT HAVE HAD RADIO PROBS ALL THIS TIME AND MAYBE THE GND CTLR NEVER HEARD MY STUDENT WHEN HE REQUESTED PERMISSION TO TAXI. I FLEW AWAY FROM LOVE AS INSTRUCTED AND CONTINUED TO MY DEST. WE FLEW TO THE UNCTLED ARPT AS PLANNED, DID A COUPLE OF TKOFS AND LNDGS AND DEPARTED THE AREA. (I HAD ALREADY DECIDED THAT TOO MANY THINGS HAD RUINED THE MOOD FOR MY STUDENT'S FIRST SOLO SO WE CUT THE FLT SHORT.) WE STAYED AWAY FROM LOVE AND ADDISON AND THEN I REQUESTED A SUGGESTED HDG FROM ADDISON WHEN WE WERE PARALLEL TO ADDISON. EVERYTHING WENT FINE ON OUR WAY BACK BUT ONCE WE LANDED AND GOTTEN OFF THE ACTIVE, THE CTLR ASKED IF WE HAD PAPER AND PEN TO COPY A TELEPHONE NUMBER DOWN. I INFORMED HIM THAT WE DID AND COPIED IT DOWN. (MY STUDENT AND I HAD HAD RADIO PROBS BEFORE, I EXPLAINED TO HIM THAT IT WAS IMPERATIVE THAT THIS GET FIXED IMMEDIATELY. IN FACT I RECALL HIM GETTING IT FIXED 3 TIMES, BUT THE PEOPLE DOING THE JOB KEPT SAYING THAT THERE WAS NOTHING WRONG WITH THE RADIO. FINALLY THE THIRD TIME THEY SAID THAT THEY HAD FIXED THE PROB.) I CALLED THE TWR AND I WAS ASKED WHAT EXACTLY WAS GOING ON. I TRIED TO EXPLAIN THAT WE HAD EXPERIENCED RADIO PROBS AND THAT MY STUDENT HAD TAKEN IT TO GET FIXED 3 TIMES. WE SPOKE BRIEFLY. I ASKED HIM IF THERE WAS ANYTHING ELSE I NEEDED TO DO OR CONTACT LOVE, BUT HE SAID THAT HE HAD ALREADY CONTACTED LOVE AND ASKED THEM IF THERE WAS ANYTHING THEY WANTED TO DO ABOUT THE ALT BUST AND THEY SAID NO(?). HE ALSO SAID THAT HE WANTED US TO CALL TO MAKE SURE A STUDENT PLT HAD NOT GOTTEN LOOSE AND I EXPLAINED I WAS THE INSTRUCTOR. I WAS SO CONCERNED, I ALSO CALLED LOVE TO EXPLAIN OUR RADIO PROB AND WAS TOLD NEXT TIME WE EXPERIENCED RADIO PROBS LEAVE THE AIRSPACE (WHICH WAS WHAT I HAD INTENDED ON DOING). WE SPOKE BRIEFLY. I HAVE ALWAYS HAD MY STUDENTS CALL A SECOND TIME IF I DID NOT HEAR THE CLRNC TO TAXI. IT'S BEEN A RULE OF THUMB I ALWAYS FOLLOW, THIS TIME FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME I TRUSTED MY STUDENT AND DID NOT. AND, SECONDLY, I SHOULD HAVE NOTICED THAT MY STUDENT HAD GOTTEN VERY TENSE WHEN DEP CTL DID NOT ANSWER (COAL UNDER PRESSURE DOESN'T ALWAYS PRODUCE DIAMONDS, UNFORTUNATELY IN THIS CASE). MY CORRECTIVE ACTION WILL BE TO TRIPLE CHK EVERYTHING.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2007 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.