A fractional captain reporting being cleared direct to lexad intersection. The pilot read back lexim...

Narrative:

Enroute from teb to ZZZZ we were given direct to an intersection and accidentally flew to a different intersection. Our route was teb elvae col dixie prepi owenz linnd azezu L453 paepr..... Along airway L453 there are 2 fixes with similar sounding names; lexad and lexim. Before prepi we were given direct to lexad but we heard and saw lexim along our route. We both confirmed lexim and read back to ATC direct to lexim. Neither ATC nor us caught the error. About 10 minutes later we were asked what we were flying to and I responded lexim. He asked when we were given that clearance and I mentioned it was given to us earlier. He asked if lexim was even along our route and I confirmed that it was. He mentioned that there should not have been 2 fixes along our route with such close spelling and that it was their fault for the error. It was then that he said we should have been going direct to lexad. He said to continue to lexim and he would try to work out direct to lexim. Before freq handoff I apologized and asked if we had a problem. He said nothing to apologize for and thanks for bringing the situation to his attention.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Fractional Captain reporting being cleared direct to LEXAD intersection. The pilot read back LEXIM another fix on their route. ATC did not notice the read back and the pilot proceeded to the wrong fix.

Narrative: Enroute from TEB to ZZZZ we were given direct to an intersection and accidentally flew to a different intersection. Our route was TEB ELVAE COL DIXIE PREPI OWENZ LINND AZEZU L453 PAEPR..... Along airway L453 there are 2 fixes with similar sounding names; LEXAD and LEXIM. Before PREPI we were given direct to LEXAD but we heard and saw LEXIM along our route. We both confirmed LEXIM and read back to ATC direct to LEXIM. Neither ATC nor us caught the error. About 10 minutes later we were asked what we were flying to and I responded LEXIM. He asked when we were given that clearance and I mentioned it was given to us earlier. He asked if LEXIM was even along our route and I confirmed that it was. He mentioned that there should not have been 2 fixes along our route with such close spelling and that it was their fault for the error. It was then that he said we should have been going direct to LEXAD. He said to continue to LEXIM and he would try to work out direct to LEXIM. Before freq handoff I apologized and asked if we had a problem. He said nothing to apologize for and thanks for bringing the situation to his attention.

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	1356737
Time
Date	201605
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZNY.ARTCC
State Reference	NY
Environment
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Medium Transport Low Wing 2 Turbojet Eng
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 135
Flight Phase	Cruise
Route In Use	Oceanic Direct
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Track / Heading All Types

A fractional captain reporting being cleared direct to lexad intersection. The pilot read back lexim another fix on their route. ATC did not notice the read back and the pilot proceeded to the wrong fix.