Narrative:

[It] was my first day back on the job after taking the [previous] month off due to the birth of my first child; so it had been a while since I'd been in the flight deck. I really hadn't thought about flying much at all for the entire month due to the focus on having a new baby around. My captain was fresh off IOE (I think the trip may have been his first since IOE); and we had a jumpseater who was in training about to begin oe who was there to observe. The jumpseater had been asking a lot of questions during both the flight out; and this flight back. I found it a little distracting; but as a former ground instructor I have the attitude that if I can help someone learn I'd like to. I probably should have called for sterile cockpit a couple of times though when discussion was too much. We took off of runway xxl; and if I remember correctly I think we were on runway heading for the initial climb. Shortly thereafter; we were assigned a turn to a 090 heading; and when able; direct an arrival intersection. When I first armed navigation mode and it captured; the aircraft started to turn left. The jumpseater said he thought we were supposed to turn right to 090; then direct the intersection; so we asked ATC and they said; 'yes; turn right to 090 then direct the intersection when able.' I was glad in this case that the jumpseater spoke up as it was appropriate. I put the aircraft back into heading mode and made sure it made the turn to 090 by going to the right. However; with all the further discussion going on between the three of us; I became distracted and apparently did not arm navigation mode for the FMS to capture the route direct to the intersection; and the captain and jumpseater did not notice either. After an unknown time (probably a minute but I'm not sure); ATC asked if we were direct the intersection; and we realized and admitted the mistake to the controller. She gave us a new heading; then direct again; and we correctly got on the new assigned course. The controller did not seem upset and to my knowledge there were no traffic or any other issues as a result. I believe the event happened due to the combination of my being out of work for several weeks; the captain being new to the airplane; and all of the disjointed discussion between the three of us during the event.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A CRJ-200 First Officer reported a track deviation after he failed to select an MCP heading and engage the NAV mode because of distractions from a new hire jumpseat pilot and a just completed IOE Captain.

Narrative: [It] was my first day back on the job after taking the [previous] month off due to the birth of my first child; so it had been a while since I'd been in the flight deck. I really hadn't thought about flying much at all for the entire month due to the focus on having a new baby around. My Captain was fresh off IOE (I think the trip may have been his first since IOE); and we had a jumpseater who was in training about to begin OE who was there to observe. The jumpseater had been asking a lot of questions during both the flight out; and this flight back. I found it a little distracting; but as a former ground instructor I have the attitude that if I can help someone learn I'd like to. I probably should have called for sterile cockpit a couple of times though when discussion was too much. We took off of Runway XXL; and if I remember correctly I think we were on runway heading for the initial climb. Shortly thereafter; we were assigned a turn to a 090 heading; and when able; direct an arrival intersection. When I first armed NAV mode and it captured; the aircraft started to turn left. The jumpseater said he thought we were supposed to turn right to 090; then direct the intersection; so we asked ATC and they said; 'Yes; turn right to 090 then direct the intersection when able.' I was glad in this case that the jumpseater spoke up as it was appropriate. I put the aircraft back into HDG mode and made sure it made the turn to 090 by going to the right. However; with all the further discussion going on between the three of us; I became distracted and apparently did not arm NAV mode for the FMS to capture the route direct to the intersection; and the Captain and jumpseater did not notice either. After an unknown time (probably a minute but I'm not sure); ATC asked if we were direct the intersection; and we realized and admitted the mistake to the Controller. She gave us a new HDG; then direct again; and we correctly got on the new assigned course. The Controller did not seem upset and to my knowledge there were no traffic or any other issues as a result. I believe the event happened due to the combination of my being out of work for several weeks; the Captain being new to the airplane; and all of the disjointed discussion between the three of us during the event.

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.