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Light transport aircraft captain reported a track/heading deviation due to similar sounding fixes conle and colin located on the same airway.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1662728 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201907 |
| Local Time Of Day | 0601-1200 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | PCT.TRACON |
| State Reference | VA |
| Environment | |
| Flight Conditions | VMC |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | Light Transport Low Wing 2 Turbojet Eng |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 135 |
| Flight Phase | Climb |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Pilot Flying Captain |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Instrument |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Track / Heading All Types Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence |
Narrative:
We were circumnavigating a large area of thunderstorms after departure. Our cleared route was V213 which had the fixes conle and colin on it about 18 miles apart. We were abeam fix conle deviating when ATC cleared us to what sounded like colin. The PNF went direct to colin in the FMS and we verified it and executed. Not long after ATC queried and said conle was the intended clearance and re-cleared us. He didn't indicate that it was a problem and we re-entered the new fix and continued on uneventfully. My concern is having two very similar sounding fixes so close to each other on the same airway. It appears ripe for confusion or a misunderstanding; especially when deviating off airway for weather avoidances. Perhaps these fixes can be looked at and possibly renamed. Both ATC and pilots should listen very closely when on this airway to avoid this mix up in the future.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: Light Transport aircraft Captain reported a track/heading deviation due to similar sounding fixes CONLE and COLIN located on the same airway.
Narrative: We were circumnavigating a large area of thunderstorms after departure. Our cleared route was V213 which had the fixes CONLE and COLIN on it about 18 miles apart. We were abeam fix CONLE deviating when ATC cleared us to what sounded like COLIN. The PNF went direct to COLIN in the FMS and we verified it and executed. Not long after ATC queried and said CONLE was the intended clearance and re-cleared us. He didn't indicate that it was a problem and we re-entered the new fix and continued on uneventfully. My concern is having two very similar sounding fixes so close to each other on the same airway. It appears ripe for confusion or a misunderstanding; especially when deviating off airway for weather avoidances. Perhaps these fixes can be looked at and possibly renamed. Both ATC and pilots should listen very closely when on this airway to avoid this mix up in the future.
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.