A320
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Distraction; Workload
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural FAR; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Weight And Balance; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Flight Crew Became Reoriented; General Flight Cancelled / Delayed
Company Policy; Human Factors; Airport
We got on the plane in TNCM prior to schedule departure; at that time we requested the release and TPS; we were told it was not available but will be coming shortly; passenger boarding began; as we were setting up we noticed that the ACARS were not available and with no paperwork we were unable to set up the FMGC. As we waited we observed all the planes including company airplanes taking off and landing on Runway 10 into a 14 knot headwind; it was a busy day in TNCM this being the weekend. We tried to reset the ACARS with no success; and departure time went by with the passengers onboard and still no release and no tps; without cellphone service we were unable to contact dispatch all operations was telling us was that the paperwork was coming. 20 past departure and the passenger were starting to be agitated as they have been on the plane for an hour. 25 minutes past departure the paperwork showed up and the main door closed and they were ready to push us back; however we were not ready. After loading the MCDU and the performance page prior to push back (in accordance with procedures that became effective the day before) we are also using a hard copy of the load close out as we could not use the ACARS. After route verification; briefing and checklist we are ready to push. Ground control informed us that we did not have a flight plan on file; again we go thru ops and spend the next 30 trying to get a flight plan refilled; and a clearance. 1h15 past departure we takeoff; takeoff was uneventful and we get enroute. Once we got the ACARS back dispatch told us that the performance numbers provided to us were for taking off Runway 28 with the strong tail wind and against the flow of traffic and that by taking off on 10 we were above the maximum takeoff weight for that Runway.- Tps was only showing numbers for one Runway; I must have assumed it was the one in use and overlooked that it was in fact for 28.- Under the numbers for Runway 28 there was a note regarding Runway 10; regarding special departure;reinforcing my mistake that this was for Runway 10.- Before [the procedure change] using uplink you would have been unable to insert number for a Runway that was different from your take of Runway on the flight plan page.- Getting the paper work including TPS on our second flight under the new procedures 20 past departure.- Being unable to contact dispatch or have dispatch contact us.- Being unfamiliar with TNCM.- Task loading and multiple distractions from ATC; ops; Flight Attendats wanting to know what was going on.
Crew arrived at the airport 1+15 prior to departure [and] at aircraft 1+05 prior to departure. Agent said that paperwork was not ready and would be brought out later. Did pre-flight checks but ACARS said no comm and we were unable to initialize the IRS's and the MCDU Init page was frozen and would not allow any entry. We pondered the problem for 10-15 minutes discussing our options and the First Officer (FO) tried deselecting and reselecting the database and that allowed us to get the IRS's aligned and to enter some information but the flight plan did not load so we were left waiting on the flight plan. We reviewed the runway 10 departure because of the unique terrain features it was noted that tailwind takeoff's were prohibited. We were located on the remote pad facing South so we just waited and watched 15-20 and takeoffs and landings on runway 10 which was right in front of us.. At departure time one of the agents came up and said that they were having problems getting a final fuel load but they would have one shortly. The agent also told us that since the changeover to the new system that they had been taking delays. We still did not have our paperwork at departure time +20. Approximately 10 minutes later the fuel truck showed up and started fueling. The agent wanted to know our fuel load to tell the fueler but I told him that that information should come from ops to be sure the load was correct. By now we are well past departure time. I did hear the FO tell tower that we were 20 minutes from engine start. A few minutes later another agent showed up with the paperwork. The FO entered all of the data and we then verified our flight plan. A takeoff on runway 10 was briefed by the FO who was the pilot flying. On the TNCM field report I noticed that runway 10 was listed first and that 28 was open for departure but only if the winds or direction change but the winds were predominantly out of the southeast.  I noticed that the weather at destination was poor. I believe it was 400 OVC and 1/2 mile. I then shifted my focus to the flight plan to see what our fuel status was. The FO looked at the paperwork and noticed that we had a re-release so a discussion of that took place because I had never done a re-release before. We were ready to go and informed tower of such and was advised that we could push. Tower then had us stop because he did not see our flight plan. There was no clearance on file. I went off frequency and spent about 5 minutes on that issue. After another 10 minutes we still did not have a flight plan so I called ops again and the clearance was re-sent. It went through this time but we still waited about 10-15 more minutes for clearance from San Juan. We were now an hour late having shown up on time and boarded on time. We taxied out and was about 200# from our takeoff min and we were given a re-route. We finally departed with the FO as the pilot flying off of runway 10 and our climb to cruise was uneventful. After level off; we got a message from dispatch wanting to know our winds. We sent back 140/14. He then sent us a message wanting our max tailwind. I sent back that we took off on runway 10 with a headwind. We were puzzled by this exchange so we started double checking everything and discovered that we had been flight planned for a tailwind takeoff on runway 28 against traffic. This is when we realized that our data entry was applicable to runway 28 and not runway 10. Upon landing I called the dispatcher and he informed me that we had been overweight for runway 10 for second segment climb performance. He also stated that he had contacted ground personnel in St. Maarten and had told them to tell us to come back to the ramp to offload passengers and bags. We were never at any time told to return to the gate by anyone. Our workload and stress level increased dramatically when we had no comm with the company and could not load any data or align the IRSs. No provision for an error to be caught on flight closeout with new procedures. We were extremely time compressed receiving the paperwork at departure time. It seemed like we were working 4-5 issues at once. Our focus was on our legalities and safe operations off of runway 10. It did not enter our thought process that we would be given a tailwind takeoff against traffic on runway 28 given the field report. We sat for over an hour and never saw a takeoff on runway 28. There was no reason to get the paperwork at departure time. Due to extreme task loading out CRM broke down allowing an error to go un-noticed. A method of communication with our dispatchers when operating out of a foreign country with no Comm. Give a complete closeout including the runway in use. You may be legal but not safe. A crosswind takeoff out of TNCM with a 7;500 foot runway may not be entirely safe. Get the paperwork upon arrival at the aircraft.
A320 flight crew describes the problems departing TNCM due to late paperwork; procedure changes and no ACARS. The flight departs over an hour late and does not use the runway planned by Dispatch and shown on the weight and balance.