B737 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 205
Situational Awareness; Human-Machine Interface; Communication Breakdown; Confusion
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural MEL / CDL
General None Reported / Taken
Aircraft; Human Factors; Procedure
Aircraft FMC did not have ACARS button.
The Captain had brought aircraft in and completed the walk around prior to my arrival at aircraft.I sat in my seat and began preflight duties. In my flow; once I got to the FMS/MCDU; I noticed the unit had a DIR. INTC button in place of where MENU normally was. I tried to figure out how to get to the ACARS menu but as there was no MENU button; I could not.The Captain had stepped out to stretch. I thought I would look in the logbook to see if there was a write-up regarding the aircraft having no ACARS or anything of that nature. There was nothing to indicate that.When the Captain came back and I asked him about the lack of ACARS; and he said it was like that on the first leg also. We laughed and both thought that maybe it's a ZZZ; so it doesn't have ACARS; and we actually both mentioned that it was the first time in a long time that we had an aircraft without ACARS.After that; I continued my duties and got the clearance and ATIS via COMM 2 (the old fashioned way) and we went about as normal. After we got back 3 flights later; we were informed that we were flying an aircraft that should have had an MCDU but did not.The Captain and I had discussed the issue prior to the first flight; and thought that since nothing was in the logbook to indicate that ACARS had been removed; maybe this is the way this ZZZ was configured. Had it been a XXX or YYY; I am sure the level of scrutiny would have been higher.Now that I know this issue of having no ACARS is a non-normal event (even in a ZZZ); I will call Maintenance immediately if this situation should arise again.
Both pilots of a B737 were a little surprised to see a Flight Manager Computer (FMC) unit without an Automatic Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) access function. No abnormal log data or Configuration Deviation List (CDL) was found so it was assumed the older aircraft simply wasn't so equipped. They subsequently learned the lack was unintentional and should have been entered in the Aircraft Maintenance Log (AML) and investigated.