Narrative:

Both pilots called late at night on short call for ferry flight to houston (atl to hou). Aircraft was clean and refueled, logbook had no discrepancies. That was the end of the normal operations. No customer service agents were present anywhere on our end of the concourse. Nearest computers were down, nearest flight crew computers had no paper. First officer called dispatcher and spent until 10 mins prior to pushback locating agent and paperwork. First officer arrived with the agent and paperwork, to include final paperwork at XA25 for an XA30 push. Captain had been preparing the cabin for ferry flight and preflting aircraft without flight plan. Just as the agent was leaving the tug driver arrived and asked to push without a headset. We went through the flight crew/ground crew brief while the first officer got settled in. We performed the before pushback start checklist with ATIS saying departures off of south runways. Ramp tells us to push for a north runway departure, adding more confusion. We both acknowledged that we had no pre departure clearance. First officer says he can get it after pushback, and I agreed. After getting our departure runway straightened out, we completed all checklists, but failed to get our pre departure clearance. Transponder had a code preset (from last flight) and my before takeoff scan failed to catch a blank '0000' code setting. After takeoff, departure control told us to squawk a code. That got our attention. I called the dispatcher and had him check our clearance. Everything was as filed. Problems were: our deviating from checklist by not getting our clearance at the normal time. With this completely self-help operation that we tend to run on ferry flts and the poor crew rest, I should have slowed things down more instead of trying to compensate for a poor operation.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737 DEPARTS ATL WITHOUT ATC CLRNC HARD COPY.

Narrative: BOTH PLTS CALLED LATE AT NIGHT ON SHORT CALL FOR FERRY FLT TO HOUSTON (ATL TO HOU). ACFT WAS CLEAN AND REFUELED, LOGBOOK HAD NO DISCREPANCIES. THAT WAS THE END OF THE NORMAL OPS. NO CUSTOMER SVC AGENTS WERE PRESENT ANYWHERE ON OUR END OF THE CONCOURSE. NEAREST COMPUTERS WERE DOWN, NEAREST FLC COMPUTERS HAD NO PAPER. FO CALLED DISPATCHER AND SPENT UNTIL 10 MINS PRIOR TO PUSHBACK LOCATING AGENT AND PAPERWORK. FO ARRIVED WITH THE AGENT AND PAPERWORK, TO INCLUDE FINAL PAPERWORK AT XA25 FOR AN XA30 PUSH. CAPT HAD BEEN PREPARING THE CABIN FOR FERRY FLT AND PREFLTING ACFT WITHOUT FLT PLAN. JUST AS THE AGENT WAS LEAVING THE TUG DRIVER ARRIVED AND ASKED TO PUSH WITHOUT A HEADSET. WE WENT THROUGH THE FLC/GND CREW BRIEF WHILE THE FO GOT SETTLED IN. WE PERFORMED THE BEFORE PUSHBACK START CHKLIST WITH ATIS SAYING DEPS OFF OF S RWYS. RAMP TELLS US TO PUSH FOR A N RWY DEP, ADDING MORE CONFUSION. WE BOTH ACKNOWLEDGED THAT WE HAD NO PDC. FO SAYS HE CAN GET IT AFTER PUSHBACK, AND I AGREED. AFTER GETTING OUR DEP RWY STRAIGHTENED OUT, WE COMPLETED ALL CHKLISTS, BUT FAILED TO GET OUR PDC. XPONDER HAD A CODE PRESET (FROM LAST FLT) AND MY BEFORE TKOF SCAN FAILED TO CATCH A BLANK '0000' CODE SETTING. AFTER TKOF, DEP CTL TOLD US TO SQUAWK A CODE. THAT GOT OUR ATTN. I CALLED THE DISPATCHER AND HAD HIM CHK OUR CLRNC. EVERYTHING WAS AS FILED. PROBS WERE: OUR DEVIATING FROM CHKLIST BY NOT GETTING OUR CLRNC AT THE NORMAL TIME. WITH THIS COMPLETELY SELF-HELP OP THAT WE TEND TO RUN ON FERRY FLTS AND THE POOR CREW REST, I SHOULD HAVE SLOWED THINGS DOWN MORE INSTEAD OF TRYING TO COMPENSATE FOR A POOR OP.

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.