Widebody Transport
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Flight Crew Total 14887.1; Flight Crew Type 1999.1
Situational Awareness; Human-Machine Interface; Confusion; Workload; Communication Breakdown
Deviation - Track / Heading All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Clearance
Flight Crew Returned To Clearance; Flight Crew Became Reoriented; Flight Crew FLC Overrode Automation
Human Factors
On departure from HKG runway 7R; OCEAN 2A SID. On switch to Departure control; I asked for high speed. The controller said unable and immediately cleared the Company flight just in front of us to go direct to OCEAN. I thought the clearance was for us and read back direct to OCEAN. The controller was difficult to understand with a thick accent. I selected direct OCEAN in the FMC. Then the controller read the clearance again and I confirmed. The Pilot Flying (PF) was hand flying and asked for speed intervene 220 and flaps 10. I then executed the direct OCEAN in the FMC. The relief pilot then inquired about the clearance so I confirmed with controller. The controller told us to stay on the SID spelling out each letter. I didn't understand this phraseology. The second time I understood he meant for us to stay on the SID. The SID was now deleted from the FMC so I asked for direct to OCEAN. Controller said unable and to climb to 9;000. I asked for direct to TD. Controller said unable. I asked for a heading to rejoin the SID. Controller said unable. I then attempted to reinstall the SID and give the PF a heading. PF flying flew 130 degree heading. PF was still hand flying so I asked him to engage the autopilot. Controller gave us climb 8;000. As I was reinstalling the SID; Controller gave us direct to TD. We then proceeded direct TD and leveled at 8000. Fatigue is always a factor when things go wrong. Multiple events led up to this issue.
Captain Pilot Monitoring (PM) accepted and executed another airplane's clearance to go 'Direct OCEAN' at the same moment it was received. Did not heed warnings or attempt to verify with PF or relief pilots. Was a total goat rope as he tried to reload FMC; and the PF was flustered with erroneous flight director data. PF then blew through a change of level off altitude by about 300 feet. A real tragic circus show completely preventable with execution of proper SOP.
On the OCEAN departure from HKG; the Captain executed a clearance for another aircraft to go direct OCEAN. This resulted in an improper flight guidance which created confusion and led to track and altitude deviations.