Air carrier departure from lax runway 24L was surprised when observing another aircraft departing ru...

Narrative:

We were originally cleared onto runway 24L by lax tower who said there was an aircraft going 'off of the other side' (normally means runway's 25L and 25R). We felt this would give us sufficient time to finish our checklists. As we went to turn onto the runway; tower said 'air carrier X; fly 210 heading; cleared for takeoff rwy 24L'. The captain got on the radio and said we would need one minute. Tower said; 'cancel takeoff clearance'. About a minute later I told tower that we were ready for takeoff and he cleared us for takeoff. I asked tower if he still wanted the previous 210 heading or the RNAV departure (holtz 9). He said 'fly 250; no fly 210; no fly the RNAV; cleared for takeoff rwy 24L'. I read back 'fly RNAV; dlrey; cleared for takeoff 24L' (dlrey is the first fix for holtz 9 24L). We did not know there was an aircraft on rwy 24R and never heard any radio transmissions to that aircraft. As we were rolling down the runway; I saw the other aircraft out of my right window and assumed he had just landed on runway 24R. To my surprise we broke ground and there was the other aircraft slightly behind us to the right. We delayed putting the gear up and the other aircraft out climbed us but fell back. Tower said to maintain visual separation and I said something to the effect of 'not for very long'. The courses converge after dlrey and the captain flew left of the course center line to delay convergence. We were sent over to socal departure control (124.3) and when I checked in I informed him we no longer had the other aircraft in sight. He immediately gave us a vector to keep us clear and said he would check on the problem with lax tower. I have no idea how this happened; but I do think there is an inherent problem with the holtz 9 should this occur again. After the first fix for each parallel runway; the courses come together at the next RNAV way point. I feel that the courses should continue straight out to intercept at different points on the arc; giving pilots and ATC more time in the event of lost comm; etc.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air carrier departure from LAX Runway 24L was surprised when observing another aircraft departing Runway 24R; reporter claiming Tower failed to provide clear traffic information; adding; the RNAV procedure needs modification.

Narrative: We were originally cleared onto Runway 24L by LAX Tower who said there was an aircraft going 'off of the other side' (normally means Runway's 25L and 25R). We felt this would give us sufficient time to finish our checklists. As we went to turn onto the runway; tower said 'Air Carrier X; Fly 210 heading; cleared for takeoff Rwy 24L'. The Captain got on the radio and said we would need one minute. Tower said; 'Cancel takeoff clearance'. About a minute later I told tower that we were ready for takeoff and he cleared us for takeoff. I asked tower if he still wanted the previous 210 heading or the RNAV departure (HOLTZ 9). He said 'fly 250; no fly 210; no fly the RNAV; cleared for takeoff Rwy 24L'. I read back 'Fly RNAV; DLREY; Cleared for takeoff 24L' (DLREY is the first fix for HOLTZ 9 24L). We did not know there was an aircraft on Rwy 24R and never heard any radio transmissions to that aircraft. As we were rolling down the runway; I saw the other aircraft out of my right window and assumed he had just landed on Runway 24R. To my surprise we broke ground and there was the other aircraft slightly behind us to the right. We delayed putting the gear up and the other aircraft out climbed us but fell back. Tower said to maintain visual separation and I said something to the effect of 'not for very long'. The courses converge after DLREY and the Captain flew left of the course center line to delay convergence. We were sent over to SOCAL Departure Control (124.3) and when I checked in I informed him we no longer had the other aircraft in sight. He immediately gave us a vector to keep us clear and said he would check on the problem with LAX Tower. I have no idea how this happened; but I do think there is an inherent problem with the HOLTZ 9 should this occur again. After the first fix for each parallel runway; the courses come together at the next RNAV way point. I feel that the courses should continue straight out to intercept at different points on the arc; giving pilots and ATC more time in the event of lost comm; etc.

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.

Attributes
ACN	859773
Time
Date	200911
Local Time Of Day	0001-0600
Place
Locale Reference	LAX.Airport
State Reference	CA
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Medium Large Transport Low Wing 2 Turbojet Eng
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Takeoff
Route In Use	SID HOLTZ 9
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	First Officer Pilot Not Flying
Qualification	Dispatch Dispatcher Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Flight Engineer
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 205 Flight Crew Total 25000 Flight Crew Type 7000
Person 2
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Conflict Airborne Conflict
Miss Distance	Horizontal 700

Air carrier departure from lax runway 24L was surprised when observing another aircraft departing runway 24R; reporter claiming tower failed to provide clear traffic information; adding; the RNAV procedure needs modification.