Narrative:

I entered the departure and arrival airports correctly in the FMS but on the legs page I mistyped cykz instead of cykf. Cykz happens to be 50 miles farther and only a couple of degrees to the right of the correct course off of yxu. When viewing the route on the FMS map page it looks just like it should.as I was given lower altitudes for my descent I started to descend at only 1;000 ft a minute since I thought I had more time but; in reality; I was 50 miles closer to my airport than I realized. ATC kept giving lower altitudes until I was cleared to 8;000 ft. Still believing I had plenty of time I remained at 1;000 ft a minute in the descent. At what I thought was around 80 miles to the airport I tried to call in range to the FBO and; as I finished; a passenger stepped up to ask about transportation; I took off my headsets and turned the speaker on to listen to ATC and the passenger. What I forgot to do was turn the transmit switch back to radio one; so after a brief moment with the passenger I put my headsets on and was only listening to radio 2 which was tuned to the FBO.during the next few minutes I was loading the GPS 08 approach into the FMS when I realized the approach was behind me and that I had put the wrong airport in the legs page. About the same time I noticed the radio was not on number one. I selected number one and was immediately informed by ATC that they were trying to reach me for 30 miles and I passed the airport. At that time I was 10 miles past the airport. They gave me an immediate left turn back and asked for my intentions. I told the controller that I wanted to land at cykf and I had entered the wrong airport into the FMS.the controller then gave me a hand off to approach and cleared me direct to the IAF for the RNAV 08 approach which was igvad. I read back; looked down and selected ikmid which was the FAF; as I started to head there I realized the mistake and reloaded the approach with the IAF. I informed the controller of the error and he re-cleared me to the IAF igvad and the rest of the approach was uneventful.corrective action: 1) the primary error was my failure to verify the correct airport in the FMS. I must take due diligence in the future to verify all points in the FMS and that I have the correct spelling. 2) allowing passengers to interrupt flight duties during a critical stage of flight for non important matters. I will brief the passengers that while flying single pilot I cannot engage in conversation in the future. 3) ATC should have realized that I was above 15;000 ft descending at 1;000 ft a minute and 30 miles away from the airport there was no way I was going to make it down in time. If ATC had questioned me earlier I could have caught the error sooner.

Related reports:

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: The failure of the single pilot of a Beech Premier to load the correct identifier on the legs page of his FMS combined with a loss of ATC communication due to verbal interference from a passenger during a critical phase of flight resulted in flight at low altitudes beyond the actual destination airport. Communications was reestablished only after the pilot noted his active communications was still selected to the arrival FBO vice ATC.

Narrative: I entered the Departure and Arrival airports correctly in the FMS but on the legs page I mistyped CYKZ instead of CYKF. CYKZ happens to be 50 miles farther and only a couple of degrees to the right of the correct course off of YXU. When viewing the route on the FMS map page it looks just like it should.As I was given lower altitudes for my descent I started to descend at only 1;000 FT a minute since I thought I had more time but; in reality; I was 50 miles closer to my airport than I realized. ATC kept giving lower altitudes until I was cleared to 8;000 FT. Still believing I had plenty of time I remained at 1;000 FT a minute in the descent. At what I thought was around 80 miles to the airport I tried to call in range to the FBO and; as I finished; a passenger stepped up to ask about transportation; I took off my headsets and turned the speaker on to listen to ATC and the passenger. What I forgot to do was turn the transmit switch back to radio one; so after a brief moment with the passenger I put my headsets on and was only listening to radio 2 which was tuned to the FBO.During the next few minutes I was loading the GPS 08 approach into the FMS when I realized the approach was behind me and that I had put the wrong airport in the legs page. About the same time I noticed the radio was not on number one. I selected number one and was immediately informed by ATC that they were trying to reach me for 30 miles and I passed the airport. At that time I was 10 miles past the airport. They gave me an immediate left turn back and asked for my intentions. I told the Controller that I wanted to land at CYKF and I had entered the wrong airport into the FMS.The Controller then gave me a hand off to Approach and cleared me direct to the IAF for the RNAV 08 approach which was IGVAD. I read back; looked down and selected IKMID which was the FAF; as I started to head there I realized the mistake and reloaded the approach with the IAF. I informed the Controller of the error and he re-cleared me to the IAF IGVAD and the rest of the approach was uneventful.Corrective action: 1) The primary error was my failure to verify the correct airport in the FMS. I must take due diligence in the future to verify all points in the FMS and that I have the correct spelling. 2) Allowing passengers to interrupt flight duties during a critical stage of flight for non important matters. I will brief the passengers that while flying single pilot I cannot engage in conversation in the future. 3) ATC should have realized that I was above 15;000 FT descending at 1;000 FT a minute and 30 miles away from the airport there was no way I was going to make it down in time. If ATC had questioned me earlier I could have caught the error sooner.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.