Fractional flight departing lax was questioned by ATC regarding route assigned; the reporter express...

Narrative:

ATC cleared us to san via lax N11 mzb direct; maintain 5;000 ft comply with departure altitude restrictions. Tower enroute listed routing as lax departure mzb. We called back clearance delivery for clarification. Then it was explained that the clearance was LAXX6 mzb direct. He explained that 'N11' was local terminology and not published. The procedure required climbing at or below 3;000 ft [until crossing] smo R-160; then heading 220 then up to 5;000 ft. After turning to 220 and reaching 5;000 ft I mistakenly instructed the pilot flying to go directly to sli as I was still confused by the local terminology i.e. 'N11'. We responded to instructions to turn and were queried by ATC about our uninstructed turned towards sli. I misunderstood ATC's question regarding our initial instructions and told [the] controller that we were not instructed to maintain a heading. I thought he was referring to the tower; I believe now he was referring to our initial clearance. Suggestions; ask clearance delivery for more simplified instructions. A clearance of LAXX6 mzb would have been uncomplicated.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Fractional flight departing LAX was questioned by ATC regarding route assigned; the reporter expressing confusion reference the issued clearance and locally used 'Tower Enroute' clearances used in this area.

Narrative: ATC cleared us to SAN via LAX N11 MZB direct; maintain 5;000 FT comply with departure altitude restrictions. Tower Enroute listed routing as LAX departure MZB. We called back Clearance Delivery for clarification. Then it was explained that the clearance was LAXX6 MZB direct. He explained that 'N11' was local terminology and not published. The procedure required climbing at or below 3;000 FT [until crossing] SMO R-160; then heading 220 then up to 5;000 FT. After turning to 220 and reaching 5;000 FT I mistakenly instructed the pilot flying to go directly to SLI as I was still confused by the local terminology i.e. 'N11'. We responded to instructions to turn and were queried by ATC about our uninstructed turned towards SLI. I misunderstood ATC's question regarding our initial instructions and told [the] Controller that we were not instructed to maintain a heading. I thought he was referring to the Tower; I believe now he was referring to our initial Clearance. Suggestions; ask Clearance Delivery for more simplified instructions. A Clearance of LAXX6 MZB would have been uncomplicated.

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.

Attributes
ACN	1115911
Time
Date	201309
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	SCT.TRACON
State Reference	CA
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Cessna Citation Sovereign (C680)
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Climb
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Not Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Person 2
Function	Pilot Not Flying Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Track / Heading All Types

Fractional flight departing lax was questioned by ATC regarding route assigned; the reporter expressing confusion reference the issued clearance and locally used 'tower enroute' clearances used in this area.