Narrative:

Upon climb out from atl, we got a trailing edge flap disagreement light on EICAS. The normal flaps locked at 9 degrees. The abnormal procedure was followed and the flaps were raised using the alternate system. We were advised that since our flaps were now up, we could proceed to our destination (lax). We sought assurance from our company flight control as to the legality of proceeding rather than return to our departure airport. Our operations manual did not address this question. We felt confident in proceeding to our destination airport and used alternate flaps in our landing in lax. We felt we used good judgement with safety always an important consideration, but did not appreciate so little written guidance on the legality of continuing on in the alternate mode.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B767-400 FLT CREW QUESTIONED THE LEGALITY OF CONTINUING FLT TO DEST AFTER HAVING TO CORRECT A SPLIT TRAILING EDGE FLAP DISAGREEMENT LIGHT BY ALTERNATE CHKLIST PROCS AFTER DEP FROM ATL, GA.

Narrative: UPON CLBOUT FROM ATL, WE GOT A TRAILING EDGE FLAP DISAGREEMENT LIGHT ON EICAS. THE NORMAL FLAPS LOCKED AT 9 DEGS. THE ABNORMAL PROC WAS FOLLOWED AND THE FLAPS WERE RAISED USING THE ALTERNATE SYS. WE WERE ADVISED THAT SINCE OUR FLAPS WERE NOW UP, WE COULD PROCEED TO OUR DEST (LAX). WE SOUGHT ASSURANCE FROM OUR COMPANY FLT CTL AS TO THE LEGALITY OF PROCEEDING RATHER THAN RETURN TO OUR DEP ARPT. OUR OPS MANUAL DID NOT ADDRESS THIS QUESTION. WE FELT CONFIDENT IN PROCEEDING TO OUR DEST ARPT AND USED ALTERNATE FLAPS IN OUR LNDG IN LAX. WE FELT WE USED GOOD JUDGEMENT WITH SAFETY ALWAYS AN IMPORTANT CONSIDERATION, BUT DID NOT APPRECIATE SO LITTLE WRITTEN GUIDANCE ON THE LEGALITY OF CONTINUING ON IN THE ALTERNATE MODE.

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.