B737-400
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Communication Breakdown; Distraction; Situational Awareness; Workload
Deviation - Speed All Types; Deviation - Track / Heading All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Clearance
Flight Crew Became Reoriented; Flight Crew FLC Overrode Automation
Human Factors
A lot of separate issues contributed to this report and to say I had my hands full is an understatement. On our taxi out today; Ground asked us if we would accept Runway XXL as opposed to our assigned runway of XXL. I told Ground we needed a few minutes to get the data. I stopped the airplane and took out the TLR (Takeoff Landing Reference) to check for numbers. Upon reviewing the TLR; no numbers were provided for Runway XXL. The First Officer was surprised and I handed him the TLR and asked him if he saw data for Runway XXL. He concluded there was no data; but sounded puzzled I was not accepting Runway XXL for departure. Later in the flight he asked me why we couldn't takeoff on Runway XXL since we had numbers for Runway XXR since 'they were the same length.'Next during taxi; we were advised to taxi via Taxiway M then Taxiway XX through the ramp. I asked the First Officer to call Ramp and he told me there was no ramp frequency. Knowing we could not just taxi through the ramp without clearance; I advised Ground myself we were approaching AN and asked if he wanted us to switch to Ramp. He answered yes. The First Officer then stated there is no ramp frequency so I told him to ask Ground for the frequency as I was busy complying with taxi instructions and had now stopped short of the ramp. Once cleared in by Ramp; we were told to follow the [Company] at our 1 o'clock position. I complied. Upon reaching Intersection W3; I stopped the airplane and the First Officer stated to me that we should continue following [Company]. I told him we have to call Ground for clearance before we exit the ramp and cannot follow [Company] without Ground's permission.Next; we departed on the ZZZZZ 5 RNAV departure and after making our initial turn at 5;934 feet; I noticed that we were somewhat left of course. I asked the First Officer to make a more aggressive turn back towards our original track since we were just outside. Shortly thereafter First Officer called for the after takeoff checklist. I started the after takeoff checklist and got to where I was supposed to move the gear handle to off. Just prior to my reaching of the gear handle; the First Officer turned on the autopilot. I saw him out of the corner of my eye and stopped the flow to make certain the autopilot actually engaged. It did engage; but I noticed that we lost our lateral guidance on the flight director. Navigating at this point was more important than moving the gear handle to off so I told the First Officer that we lost LNAV and went into CWS (Control Wheel Steering Mode). First Officer reached up right away and selected LNAV himself but nothing happened. At this point; I told him I was going to turn off the flight directors and reengage LNAV and VNAV. While all of this is going on; ATC is also giving us additional information which I am trying to keep up with; while also monitoring the First Officer as flying pilot to make sure we were staying on course the best we could. The First Officer responded to me that we can just fly the magenta line and the departure in CWS. I told him we cannot fly an RNAV departure in CWS. Once I recycled the flight directors and rearmed both vertical and lateral modes; we got the proper flight director guidance with LNAV & VNAV. After a very short time; the First Officer reengaged the autopilot and the same exact thing happened a second time. CWS. The First Officer again stated he was going to fly in CWS and follow the magenta line and seemed puzzled that I was insisting on reengaging the lateral and vertical modes. I briefly thought about taking controls but decided that with everything going on; my First Officer was not going to be able to communicate efficiently with ATC on short notice with everything else going on. I continued to talk him through until he turned the autopilot on a third time. This time; the autopilot turned on with both lateral and vertical modes engaged. All during this; I was attempting to guide him on our departure path; meet the crossing restriction; and interacting with ATC. I do not think we ever got off course enough for any kind of deviation on the departure and ATC never queried us about our track.After passing through 10;000 feet and accelerating to our climb speed; I realized that I had not moved the gear handle to off or completed the after takeoff checklist due to everything that just transpired. I reached over as normal and moved the gear handle to off; but apparently the handle went past off and the gear door opening process started. It was almost reflexive that as soon as I felt the gear handle move slightly beyond the off position I immediately moved the handle back to up. The gear handle itself was beyond the off position for a split second as I immediately returned it to up in the same motion. Our airspeed at the time was approximately 276 kts. I think the gear door red light illuminated for a split second and went out almost immediately. No abnormal sounds or vibrations were detected in flight and this gear event was written up in the logbook. Upon arrival; the gear and doors operated normally and after a walk around; the First Officer observed no obvious damage. I briefed two different maintenance personnel on the write up I made in the logbook.I have flown with this First Officer for a few days and have noticed communication between us at times and between him and the controller to be challenging. I do not think English is his first language and this has caused some confusion. At times; I have answered the radio as pilot flying just to make certain both we and ATC know what is going on. The events that transpired this morning have gotten me more concerned than anything. I truly felt as if I was operating the entire departure this morning completely alone. I had a great deal of things occurring at one time while I alone was trying to troubleshoot the problem; interact with ATC; comply with an RNAV departure and crossing restriction plus additional ATC clearances; and make sure that we were flying away from traffic; terrain; etc. while observing the First Officer flying; all while my First Officer thinks all we need to do is 'follow the magenta line in CWS.' I was so task saturated at this point I was doing all I could to keep on top of things. Then after realizing the gear was still not in the off position; I inadvertently moved the gear handle passed the off position while completing the after takeoff checklist I did not have time to complete as normal.
B737 Captain reported becoming task saturated while troubleshooting an autopilot problem; resulting in deviation from the checklist and procedural error.