An air carrier crew reported turning at 500 ft after a night take off from abq runway 8. ATC's ambig...

Attributes
ACN	871054
Time
Date	201001
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ABQ.Airport
State Reference	NM
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737-300
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Climb
Route In Use	Vectors
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Pilot Not Flying Captain
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 272
Person 2
Function	First Officer Pilot Flying
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 283 Flight Crew Type 5000
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Deviation - Speed All Types Deviation - Track / Heading All Types

Narrative:

Leg 5 (last leg); day four. Tower issued takeoff clearance on runway 8. Stated cleared for takeoff; left turn 'when able' to 290; unable to assure terrain clearance. After takeoff at 500 AGL; I prompted turn left. First officer thought we still had the noise abatement restriction of no turns till 13.5 DME. We momentarily discussed; then commenced turn to west. At approximately 11;000 ft; after we thought flaps had been retracted normally; we realized we still had flaps 1. Airspeed at 260 KTS. Flaps then retracted normally and we proceeded to our destination. No flap extension problems and normal landing. Maintenance contacted with overspeed writeup. Probable fatigue combined with an unexpected tower clearance and subsequent discussion caused distraction.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An air carrier crew reported turning at 500 FT after a night take off from ABQ Runway 8. ATC's ambiguous departure instructions confused the fatigued crew and during the ensuing discussion the flaps were not retracted until 280 KTS.

Narrative: Leg 5 (last leg); day four. Tower issued takeoff clearance on Runway 8. Stated cleared for takeoff; left turn 'when able' to 290; unable to assure terrain clearance. After takeoff at 500 AGL; I prompted turn left. First Officer thought we still had the noise abatement restriction of no turns till 13.5 DME. We momentarily discussed; then commenced turn to west. At approximately 11;000 FT; after we THOUGHT flaps had been retracted normally; we realized we still had flaps 1. Airspeed at 260 KTS. Flaps then retracted normally and we proceeded to our destination. No flap extension problems and normal landing. Maintenance contacted with overspeed writeup. Probable fatigue combined with an unexpected Tower clearance and subsequent discussion caused distraction.

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.

An air carrier crew reported turning at 500 ft after a night take off from abq runway 8. ATC's ambiguous departure instructions confused the fatigued crew and during the ensuing discussion the flaps were not retracted until 280 KTS.