Narrative:

Flew st clair one SID out of dtw. Filed clearance had us proceed from maars (end of published SID) to aco VOR; pre departure clearance indicated maars sphre aco. Sphre was inadvertently omitted in flight plan. ATC queried if we were direct aco; error realized and immediately turned back direct sphre. Cleveland center advised of possible pilot deviation and had us call upon landing. During debrief; I became aware that during our preflight briefing and FMS review: a) student did not realize that I expected him to confirm the fixes I was reading from the FMS flight plan against the pre departure clearance. And b) student was unaware that a pre departure clearance with 'dashes' indicated that the issued clearance was not the same as the filed flight plan when he entered the flight plan into the FMS. My failure to realize that we were both simply reading what was presented in the FMS flight plan; and to not more thoroughly cross check the FMS plan against the pre departure clearance when was causal. Suggestions: I will be more clear about what each of us is reviewing when we review FMS flight plans in the future; to include myself fully crosschecking both myself instead of relying on the other pilot as heavily. If at all possible; reformat the pre departure clearance printout to only present the assigned flight plan; [instead of] both the assigned and the filed plans. Having both on the pre departure clearance creates unnecessary confusion.discussion with the watch desk at cleveland center indicated that this particular deviation is occurring repeatedly and by pilots from multiple carriers. The preferred and always assigned routing on this departure will be maars direct sphre prior to clearance further along route; personal experience flying out of dtw is that sphre is always added; but never filed by us. Consider either a) having dispatch review and file the preferred route to sphre; if the information I received was correct; and/or B) work with FAA to modify the published departure to add sphre after maars.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Check Airman reported that they failed to compare the flight plan routing with the pre departure clearance; consequently missing a fix and had a possible track deviation.

Narrative: Flew ST CLAIR ONE SID out of DTW. Filed clearance had us proceed from MAARS (end of published SID) to ACO VOR; PDC indicated MAARS SPHRE ACO. SPHRE was inadvertently omitted in flight plan. ATC queried if we were direct ACO; error realized and immediately turned back direct SPHRE. Cleveland Center advised of possible pilot deviation and had us call upon landing. During debrief; I became aware that during our preflight briefing and FMS review: a) student did not realize that I expected him to confirm the fixes I was reading from the FMS flight plan against the PDC. And b) student was unaware that a PDC with 'dashes' indicated that the issued clearance was not the same as the filed flight plan when he entered the flight plan into the FMS. My failure to realize that we were both simply reading what was presented in the FMS flight plan; and to not more thoroughly cross check the FMS plan against the PDC when was causal. Suggestions: I will be more clear about what each of us is reviewing when we review FMS flight plans in the future; to include myself fully crosschecking both myself instead of relying on the other pilot as heavily. If at all possible; reformat the PDC printout to only present the assigned flight plan; [instead of] both the assigned and the filed plans. Having both on the PDC creates unnecessary confusion.Discussion with the watch desk at Cleveland Center indicated that this particular deviation is occurring repeatedly and by pilots from multiple carriers. The preferred and always assigned routing on this departure will be MAARS direct SPHRE prior to clearance further along route; personal experience flying out of DTW is that SPHRE is always added; but never filed by us. Consider either a) having dispatch review and file the preferred route to SPHRE; if the information I received was correct; and/or B) work with FAA to modify the published departure to add SPHRE after MAARS.

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.