Date: 201908
Local time of day: 1201-1800
Location: ZZZ.Airport, US
Flight conditions: VMC
Aircraft: MD-11
Operator: Air Carrier
Operating under: Part 121
Mission: Cargo / Freight / Delivery
Flight phase: Parked
Airspace: Class B ZZZ
ATC / advisory: Tower ZZZ
Reporter organization: Air Carrier
Reporter function: Pilot Flying; Captain
Reporter qualification: Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Human factors: Confusion; Distraction
Second reporter function: Pilot Not Flying; First Officer
Anomaly: Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Clearance; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Detector: Person Air Traffic Control
When detected: In-flight
Result: Air Traffic Control Provided Assistance; Flight Crew Requested ATC Assistance / Clarification; Flight Crew Returned To Clearance
Contributing factors: Aircraft; Human Factors
Primary problem: Human Factors

Narrative: During preflight setup; we had 8 MEL's to review and manage. One of the MEL's was no ACARS. With multiple MEL's and manual weight/balance; clearance; and ATIS we were in and out of our normal routine. As we would accomplish an event a distraction would arise that took us away from normal setup duties. As I called for clearance we were again taken away from our setup duties by the Ramp Agent. In my mind we had called for clearance; but in reality; we did not. As we finished cockpit setup and prepared for engine start and pushback we were distracted again by an alert. After taking care of the alert we were ready for start and push. We called for push and were cleared for start. Just as we prepared to start the first engine our APU had an AUTO SHUTDOWN ALERT. We lost total ship power and had to stop the push and get pulled back to the chocks. We had the following alerts in sequence: APU AUTO SHUTDOWN; BAT CHARGING; EMER PWR TEST FAIL. We accomplished the respective checklists with maintenance supervision on the radio. After restoring power and returning the jet to ops normal we completed our checks and taxied for takeoff. We had a minor delay while we consulted again with maintenance about the BAT CHARGING alert; upon corrective action we taxied to the runway. After takeoff we were sent to departure frequency. It was then we noticed no frequency in the selector and both realized we had not obtained clearance on the ground. We then were notified of or squawk and continued. We coordinated with ZZZ and confirmed our full route clearance. Total distraction combined with multiple mechanical events during critical cockpit setup; start and pushback. Multiple distractions within short periods of time along with non-normal operations (i.e. no ACARS) led to our missing the call for clearance. Task saturation was also a causal factor.


Second narrative: Departed without receiving ATC clearance. We arrived to the aircraft with plenty of time for preflight duties. There were several MEL's which we're briefed and discussed including the ACARS. Had a problem with the APU air system which maintenance responded to. It was extremely hot on the cockpit without AC. Worked thru our preflight with numerous distractions and spurious alerts which were handled as they arose. Copied ATIS; got the paper WT/BAL; computed performance; Captain had mentioned we would need to call for clearance; we checked the way points and Captain briefed the departure. When it was time for push I ran through the requirements in my head and felt we had completed everything. When we started the push the APU auto shutdown. We pulled back into the gate and ran the QRH procedures. Got on ground power and restarted the APU. Elected to start one in the blocks on ground power. Subsequent starts were normal. Next we had an emergency power and batt charging issue on taxi out. We handled that with the concurrence of Maintenance; then taxied for takeoff. After takeoff Tower asked us to reset squawk. I thought it had dropped off due to the total electrical loss. When instructed to switch to departure; I realized that I didn't remember briefing and setting the departure frequency in VHF3 and realized we hadn't gotten our clearance. We quickly confirmed our full route clearance with ATC and proceeded to our destination without event. Loss of SA due to heat; multiple distractions and malfunctions; expectation bias; breaking from normal routine and flow.


Synopsis: The flight crew of a wide body cargo aircraft reported that; due to many preflight distractions; they took off without receiving an ATC route clearance.