B757 first officer reports being cleared direct to urowt on the QUABN3 arrival to bos which causes c...

Narrative:

While flying the QUABN3 STAR; ATC gave us a hold at ondec intersection (intersection on the QUABN3 bos STAR) due to the fact that a snow plow had gotten stuck on the runway in bos during the snow removal process. When we left the hold; ATC cleared us direct to urowt and the QUABN3; and we continued on to bos. Nothing happened during the flight; no far's or SOP's were broken; and no speed or altitudes were busted. The flight was uneventful.however; my issue is with the name of the urowt intersection and possible hear back/read back issues. When spoken; this intersection; urowt; can be also be heard as 'your route'; as in cleared direct xyz; the rest of your route is unchanged.....instead of urowt; (spoken as 'your out).....particularly with a boston controller's accent. So; urowt and your route; are very similar; in fact; so similar that it could create hear back/read back issues. Since neither ondec nor urowt were not on our original flight plan; we did have a little misunderstanding between pilots as to the ATC clearance. However; we did rectify the situation and the flight continued uneventfully to boston. Therefore; to prevent any hear back/read back errors; may I suggest that the name of this intersection; urowt; be changed to prevent any possible hear back/read back errors.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B757 First Officer reports being cleared direct to UROWT on the QUABN3 arrival to BOS which causes confusion in the cockpit due to the way UROWT is pronounced by the ZBW Controller (your route) and believes it should be changed.

Narrative: While flying the QUABN3 STAR; ATC gave us a hold at ONDEC Intersection (Intersection on the QUABN3 BOS STAR) due to the fact that a snow plow had gotten stuck on the runway in BOS during the snow removal process. When we left the hold; ATC cleared us direct to UROWT and the QUABN3; and we continued on to BOS. Nothing happened during the flight; no FAR's or SOP's were broken; and no speed or altitudes were busted. The flight was uneventful.However; my issue is with the name of the UROWT intersection and possible hear back/read back issues. When spoken; this intersection; UROWT; can be also be heard as 'Your Route'; as in Cleared direct XYZ; the rest of YOUR ROUTE is unchanged.....instead of UROWT; (Spoken as 'YOUR OUT).....particularly with a Boston Controller's accent. So; UROWT and YOUR ROUTE; are very similar; in fact; so similar that it could create hear back/read back issues. Since neither ONDEC nor UROWT were not on our original flight plan; we did have a little misunderstanding between pilots as to the ATC clearance. However; we did rectify the situation and the flight continued uneventfully to Boston. Therefore; to prevent any hear back/read back errors; may I suggest that the name of this intersection; UROWT; be changed to prevent any possible hear back/read back errors.

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.

Attributes
ACN	1241164
Time
Date	201502
Place
Locale Reference	ZBW.ARTCC
State Reference	NH
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B757 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Descent
Route In Use	Direct STAR QUABN3
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	First Officer Pilot Flying
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 150 Flight Crew Total 17000 Flight Crew Type 7000
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

B757 first officer reports being cleared direct to urowt on the QUABN3 arrival to bos which causes confusion in the cockpit due to the way urowt is pronounced by the ZBW controller (your route) and believes it should be changed.