Originally Posted by
sailingfun
If they knew they were taking off at 0545 than they also knew they would need to contact tower. The airport goes controlled at that time. In fact stating it was 0545 makes the situation a bit worse. A takeoff from a controlled field without clearance.
I suspect with a scheduled push time of 0540 crews often tried to get off the gate a bit early so they could depart prior to 0545 and avoid having to talk to tower and a possible delay. I don't know why they did not make the required CTAF radio calls or even monitor the frequency. It's possible maybe they had the wrong frequency dialed in as I can't see a airline crew skipping those calls.
Yeah they either took off on a closed runway, or took off from a controlled field without a clearance. One or the other. Not helping their case by claiming they thought the runway was already open at 0545.
I tend to give benefit of the doubt re. the radios that they might have had the wrong CTAF tuned. I can't imagine a 121 crew pushing, taxiing, and departing with no radio calls at all.