When the captain was distracted with a cabin P.a. While they were being cleared for takeoff; the B73...

Attributes
ACN	845596
Time
Date	200907
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737-700
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Takeoff
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 174
Person 2
Function	First Officer
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 234
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Track / Heading All Types

Narrative:

While taxiing for departure; I 'dinged' the flight attendants and as I was listening for their PA; tower cleared us for takeoff and gave us a turn to a departure heading. We then finished the checklist just before we crossed the hold short line. I then said to the first officer: 'it's a right turn correct?' and he said: 'yes'. However; it was not. Passing approximately 2000 MSL; ATC said we should be in a left turn; but subsequently told us to continue turning right to a heading of 270. I did not see any traffic conflicts either outside of the aircraft or on the TCAS.the bottom line is when in doubt about a clearance; confirm it with ATC.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: When the Captain was distracted with a cabin P.A. while they were being cleared for takeoff; the B737 First Officer miscommunicated the direction of the cleared turn after takeoff resulting in a track deviation.

Narrative: While taxiing for departure; I 'dinged' the Flight Attendants and as I was listening for their PA; Tower cleared us for takeoff and gave us a turn to a departure heading. We then finished the checklist just before we crossed the hold short line. I then said to the First Officer: 'It's a right turn correct?' and he said: 'yes'. However; it was not. Passing approximately 2000 MSL; ATC said we should be in a left turn; but subsequently told us to continue turning right to a heading of 270. I did not see any traffic conflicts either outside of the aircraft or on the TCAS.The bottom line is when in doubt about a clearance; confirm it with ATC.

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.

When the captain was distracted with a cabin P.a. While they were being cleared for takeoff; the B737 first officer miscommunicated the direction of the cleared turn after takeoff resulting in a track deviation.