First officer misspelled cleared waypoint into the FMS. The aircraft began a turn in the wrong direc...

Attributes
ACN	1317708
Time
Date	201512
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZZ.Airport
State Reference	FO
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Widebody Low Wing 3 Turbojet Eng
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Cruise
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying First Officer
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 110 Flight Crew Total 5500 Flight Crew Type 2500
Person 2
Function	Pilot Not Flying Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 100 Flight Crew Total 23000 Flight Crew Type 7500
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Track / Heading All Types

Narrative:

We were at FL9800m offset 6 miles right of course on the airway. We received a reroute to a random waypoint then back to the airway flight plan route. When the reroute came; the captain was out of his seat in the bathroom. The first officer; the flying pilot; attempted to insert the cleared waypoint into the FMS and at the same time receive a frequency change to contact a second controller. His attempt to multi task caused a spelling error for the waypoint. The aircraft started a right turn; when it should have turned left. After contacting control; he gave a heading of 240 degrees; to the correct to the waypoint; the error was corrected in the FMS; and the controller cleared us our own navigation to the waypoint then flight plan route. The rest of the clearance was uneventful. The captain was briefed on the reroute issue. In this situation there were multiple threats. 1. Language barrier 2. Clearance reroute in flight. 3. One pilot away from duty station. 4. Task saturation of remaining pilot. This threat would have been trapped with both pilots verifying and checking the reroute clearance. No further comments from ATC have been received.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: First Officer misspelled cleared waypoint into the FMS. The aircraft began a turn in the wrong direction. The error was discovered and corrected.

Narrative: We were at FL9800m offset 6 miles right of course on the airway. We received a reroute to a random waypoint then back to the airway flight plan route. When the reroute came; the Captain was out of his seat in the bathroom. The First Officer; the flying pilot; attempted to insert the cleared waypoint into the FMS and at the same time receive a frequency change to contact a second controller. His attempt to multi task caused a spelling error for the Waypoint. The aircraft started a right turn; when it should have turned left. After contacting control; he gave a heading of 240 degrees; to the correct to the waypoint; the error was corrected in the FMS; and the controller cleared us our own Navigation to the waypoint then flight plan route. The rest of the clearance was uneventful. The Captain was briefed on the reroute issue. In this situation there were multiple threats. 1. Language Barrier 2. Clearance reroute in flight. 3. One pilot away from duty station. 4. Task saturation of remaining pilot. This threat would have been trapped with both pilots verifying and checking the reroute clearance. No further comments from ATC have been received.

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.

First officer misspelled cleared waypoint into the FMS. The aircraft began a turn in the wrong direction. The error was discovered and corrected.