B767-300 and 300 ER
Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Flight Instructor; Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP); Flight Crew Multiengine
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 60; Flight Crew Total 8500; Flight Crew Type 500
Situational Awareness; Confusion; Communication Breakdown
ATC Issue All Types; Deviation - Track / Heading All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Inflight Event / Encounter CFTT / CFIT
Air Traffic Control Issued Advisory / Alert; Flight Crew Returned To Clearance
Chart Or Publication; Human Factors; Procedure
During taxi out from TTPP the Tower Controller gave us a clearance to: After takeoff proceed Direct to LOGAN than on filed route; maintain 15;000 FT. The First Officer flying and I asked the Tower Controller to verify LOGAN as the direct to point after takeoff twice and to actually spell the fix name because the Controller was very hard to understand.After takeoff the First Officer flying asked for LNAV at 400 FT; our normal procedure to RNAV direct to LOGAN. The Controller asked us shortly after this if we had a visual on the terrain to our left; at this point the First Officer flying started to turn back to runway heading because turning towards LOGAN did not feel right. The First Officer flying had the Terrain avoidance system turned on his electronic HSI. At this point we continued on runway heading until 4;100 FT; than we turned left direct to LOGAN. Once we turned back towards runway heading; we didn't turn to LOGAN until 4;100 FT because I remembered that 4;100 FT is normally when you turn on course out of TTPP. I believe one element that caused the problem was the fact that the TTPP Tower Controller was very difficult to understand and he gave us a clearance direct to a LOGAN after takeoff; NOT a clearance to LOGAN once we reached 4;100 FT. We all initially felt that since it was a clearance given by the Tower; it was reasonable to believe this was a safe departure.In the future; all of us in the flight deck; later that day discussed this departure in great and lengthy detail and we ALL agreed that from now on; when we are departing an airport we are not totally familiar with; we MUST always look at the back of the airport page to verify that the instructions given to us by an ATC Tower Controller; make sense and keep us away from terrain; the fact that the TTPP Controller was very hard to understand; complicated matters and the clearance. The main lesson to be learned is; that even a highly experienced International Airline crew that has literally flown around the world in wide body jet aircraft; CANNOT and should not rely on a controller unless the crew is 100% sure the clearance can be carried out safely. Once our crew realized the turn to the left right after takeoff was not correct; we took immediate action to correct it and the rest of the flight was uneventful. Don't let experience lull you into complacency.
We had just started our turn when Tower asked us if we had visual contact with terrain.We stated that we didn't and started a turn back towards the runway track and asked them if they wanted us on runway heading. They replied that they did and said we needed to fly runway heading until 4;100 FT unless terrain is in sight.
A B767-300 departing TTPP misunderstood the meaning of their ATC clearance to proceed direct to LOGAN after takeoff and turned toward it fix prior to completing the Obstacle Clearance procedure which requires runway heading to 4;100 FT before proceeding on course. Difficulty understanding the Controller was cited as a contributing factor.