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Airbus flight crew reported a track deviation resulted when the aircraft made a 'smart turn' that left them 6 miles from a fix they were cleared to fly over.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1407359 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201612 |
| Local Time Of Day | 1201-1800 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | N90.TRACON |
| State Reference | NY |
| Environment | |
| Flight Conditions | IMC |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | Airbus Industrie Undifferentiated or Other Model |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
| Flight Phase | Climb |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Component | |
| Aircraft Component | FMS/FMC |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Captain Pilot Flying |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) |
| Person 2 | |
| Function | Pilot Not Flying First Officer |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Track / Heading All Types |
Narrative:
Flight being radar vectored after departing runway 04L at ewr. Given about two heading changes followed by a direct clearance to gayel intersection (ewr 2 SID). Gayel was off our right; slightly behind our position. Entered direct gayel and selected navigation. Winds about 80 degrees off left side and at least 40 knots. Aircraft flying approximately 360 heading maybe 010 to navigation to gayel. Airplane navigated to gayel but started calculating a turn toward the next fix; mslin. Aircraft had to turn in excess of 90 degrees to stay on course to next fix; mslin. ATC asked where we were going? We answered gayel; and he responded you are 8 miles away from fix (west of fix). We answered that aircraft is navigating via the FMS. Aircraft started its turn to pass abeam gayel and we passed abeam gayel by approximately 6.4 miles. Aircraft was always in navigation. We were indicating 260 KIAS and asked to slow to 250 KIAS! I have noticed this a few times in certain airbus aircraft. The airplane starts to turn early to navigation to next fix. Waypoints were all loaded out of the ewr 2 departure.[suggest notifying] ATC that the aircraft is navigating to fix but will pass abeam waypoint by 6-7 miles because of winds and angle to stay on course to next fix.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: Airbus flight crew reported a track deviation resulted when the aircraft made a 'smart turn' that left them 6 miles from a fix they were cleared to fly over.
Narrative: Flight being radar vectored after departing Runway 04L at EWR. Given about two heading changes followed by a direct clearance to GAYEL intersection (EWR 2 SID). GAYEL was off our right; slightly behind our position. Entered direct GAYEL and selected NAV. Winds about 80 degrees off left side and at least 40 knots. Aircraft flying approximately 360 heading maybe 010 to NAV to GAYEL. Airplane navigated to GAYEL but started calculating a turn toward the next fix; MSLIN. Aircraft had to turn in excess of 90 degrees to stay on course to next fix; MSLIN. ATC asked WHERE WE WERE GOING? We answered GAYEL; and he responded you are 8 miles away from fix (west of fix). We answered that aircraft is navigating via the FMS. Aircraft started its turn to pass abeam GAYEL and we passed abeam GAYEL by approximately 6.4 miles. Aircraft was always in NAV. We were indicating 260 KIAS and asked to slow to 250 KIAS! I have noticed this a few times in certain Airbus aircraft. The airplane starts to turn early to NAV to next fix. Waypoints were all loaded out of the EWR 2 departure.[Suggest notifying] ATC that the aircraft is navigating to fix but will pass abeam waypoint by 6-7 miles because of winds and angle to stay on course to next fix.
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.