Narrative:

Due to a re-route because of weather we received a clearance from clt clearance delivery over the radio. I wrote down the clearance and read the clearance back completely due to the length of the re-route. After a couple of transmissions back and forth clearance delivery said I had the clearance correct. H-y meril rdu 248 flops J51 fak aml J220 micah ................. 80 35/10min 124.0 the captain loaded the new clearance in the FMC and I checked the FMC. It was loaded the exact way I had written the clearance down from ATC. We took off; checked overhead meril and then rdu. After rdu; the aircraft started to make a right turn; I think back to flops. We stopped the turn because we knew we had to turn left towards fak. Atlanta center came over the radio and cleared us directly to fak. A few minutes later we heard the same thing happen to the aircraft behind us. They also had some kind of navigation problem and atlanta center cleared them direct fak also. I called atlanta center and said the problem may have been with the clt clearance that was given to us. Atlanta center said they would check with clt. I think the problem was with the initial clearance. There are 1 or 2 areas that clearance delivery could have made a mistake or 3 or 4 areas that we could have made a mistake. I am not sure where it occurred. The confusion takes place when the rdu 248 radial in involved. I.e. Meril to rdu to RDU248 radial to flops to J51. There is a minor difference in the routing; but a major difference in navigation. It is very easy or would be very easy to get the two routings confused. When clearance is received over the ACARS it is easy to verify which routing is to be loaded into the FMC. It is when the clearance is received over the radio is where the problem could occur. Maybe clearance delivery could give the radio clearance as meril to flops to J51 and not mention rdu or the rdu 248 radial; this would get rid of the confusion.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air carrier First Officer reports track deviation during the HOR4 departure from CLT. An error was made issuing or copying the clearance via radio.

Narrative: Due to a re-route because of weather we received a clearance from CLT Clearance delivery over the radio. I wrote down the clearance and read the clearance back completely due to the length of the re-route. After a couple of transmissions back and forth clearance delivery said I had the clearance correct. H-Y MERIL RDU 248 FLOPS J51 FAK AML J220 MICAH ................. 80 35/10min 124.0 the Captain loaded the new clearance in the FMC and I checked the FMC. It was loaded the exact way I had written the clearance down from ATC. We took off; checked overhead MERIL and then RDU. After RDU; the aircraft started to make a right turn; I think back to FLOPS. We stopped the turn because we knew we had to turn left towards FAK. Atlanta Center came over the radio and cleared us directly to FAK. A few minutes later we heard the same thing happen to the aircraft behind us. They also had some kind of navigation problem and Atlanta Center cleared them direct FAK also. I called Atlanta Center and said the problem may have been with the CLT Clearance that was given to us. Atlanta Center said they would check with CLT. I think the problem was with the initial clearance. There are 1 or 2 areas that clearance delivery could have made a mistake or 3 or 4 areas that we could have made a mistake. I am not sure where it occurred. The confusion takes place when the RDU 248 radial in involved. i.e. MERIL to RDU to RDU248 radial to FLOPS to J51. There is a minor difference in the routing; but a major difference in navigation. It is very easy or would be very easy to get the two routings confused. When clearance is received over the ACARS it is easy to verify which routing is to be loaded into the FMC. It is when the clearance is received over the radio is where the problem could occur. Maybe clearance delivery could give the radio clearance as MERIL to FLOPS to J51 and not mention RDU or the RDU 248 radial; this would get rid of the confusion.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.