Narrative:

ZLA sector 14 was very busy with numerous arrivals and departures on frequency; with several aircraft in the vicinity of vtu. W289E; W289W and W289S were all hot AOB500. All lax jet departures via vtu were to be routed on the FIXIT2 departure. While we were very busy with complex traffic; I saw aircraft X turn west after fixit intersection toward the hot W289E; instead of turning north toward ikaye; the next fix on the departure. I alerted the r-side controller and immediately called the rco who had the hot airspace to request a transit through W289E for an aircraft which had veered off the departure route and approaching their airspace. The rco approved the transit. We recovered from the urgent situation as best we could and vectored the aircraft X back onto their route as soon as we could. When asked about the clearance he was on; the pilot of aircraft X said he had an automated clearance and was cleared 'FIXIT2 cebad dinty' which could be confused with 'fixit to cebad dinty'. If they flew fixit direct cebad that goes west from fixit into the hot W289. If they fly the FIXIT2 routing that takes them around the east side of W289E to ikaye; then turns west clear of the W289 airspace. Clearly; the crew thought they were cleared from fixit intersection to cebad intersection. The question is how they came to that misunderstanding. There was no indication in any of our flight plan information that showed anything other than proper routing. The fixit route is a problematic repair to our issue of how to route lax jet departures via vtu when W289E or west are hot. Aircraft must make the proper turn at fixit every time. A wrong turn west; results in this situation; with no chance to miss hot warning areas. A wrong turn east puts an aircraft into lax arrival traffic over vtu and fim. With this complex airspace and route structure there is simply no margin for error. And with numerous foreign pilots flying this route; we find ourselves crossing our fingers too many times and getting tunnel vision over the fixit-vtu area when we have much more traffic to deal with. I am unsure what can be done to the route other than a verbal clearance from controller to pilot every time [to] reduce misunderstanding. Also; the confusion could be a result of 'fixit to cebad..dinty' instead of 'FIXIT2.cebad..dinty'. The use of the numeral 2 in sids/stars naming may need to change to avoid this possibly dangerous homonym. Up number from 1 to 3 skipping the numeral 2 when changes are made to procedures. Hot to the beach procedures for ZLA14 and 25 are going to be big problems indefinitely.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ZLA Controller describes ongoing problem related to the number 2 and the word two. A SID with the number 2 in it can also be described as the word to when in a clearance.

Narrative: ZLA Sector 14 was very busy with numerous arrivals and departures on frequency; with several aircraft in the vicinity of VTU. W289E; W289W and W289S were all hot AOB500. All LAX jet departures via VTU were to be routed on the FIXIT2 departure. While we were very busy with complex traffic; I saw Aircraft X turn west after FIXIT Intersection toward the hot W289E; instead of turning north toward IKAYE; the next fix on the departure. I alerted the R-side Controller and immediately called the RCO who had the hot airspace to request a transit through W289E for an aircraft which had veered off the departure route and approaching their airspace. The RCO approved the transit. We recovered from the urgent situation as best we could and vectored the Aircraft X back onto their route as soon as we could. When asked about the clearance he was on; the pilot of Aircraft X said he had an automated clearance and was cleared 'FIXIT2 CEBAD DINTY' which could be confused with 'FIXIT TO CEBAD DINTY'. If they flew FIXIT direct CEBAD that goes west from FIXIT into the hot W289. If they fly the FIXIT2 routing that takes them around the east side of W289E to IKAYE; then turns west clear of the W289 airspace. Clearly; the crew thought they were cleared from FIXIT Intersection to CEBAD Intersection. The question is how they came to that misunderstanding. There was no indication in any of our flight plan information that showed anything other than proper routing. The FIXIT route is a problematic repair to our issue of how to route LAX jet departures via VTU when W289E or W are hot. Aircraft must make the proper turn at FIXIT every time. A wrong turn west; results in this situation; with no chance to miss hot warning areas. A wrong turn east puts an aircraft into LAX arrival traffic over VTU and FIM. With this complex airspace and route structure there is simply no margin for error. And with numerous foreign pilots flying this route; we find ourselves crossing our fingers too many times and getting tunnel vision over the FIXIT-VTU area when we have much more traffic to deal with. I am unsure what can be done to the route other than a verbal clearance from controller to pilot every time [to] reduce misunderstanding. Also; the confusion could be a result of 'FIXIT TO CEBAD..DINTY' instead of 'FIXIT2.CEBAD..DINTY'. The use of the numeral 2 in SIDS/STARS naming may need to change to avoid this possibly dangerous homonym. Up number from 1 to 3 skipping the numeral 2 when changes are made to procedures. HOT TO THE BEACH procedures for ZLA14 and 25 are going to be big problems indefinitely.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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.