Narrative:

We were in a climb to our filed altitude of fl 400. We were on our flight planned route; south of the dag VOR. While climbing through FL400; we were issued a reroute by ATC. The first fix in the reroute was direct dag. Then; ATC began to give a radial and DME; when he told us to hold on so he could verify the clearance. The pilot not flying was copying clearance. The pilot flying went to the direct to page in the FMS; and began to type dag; but realized that it was already in the flight plan on that page after he had put the letter 'D'. So the pilot flying line selected dag and pressed execute. In the FMS 'D' is also a fix. It was in the scratch pad; and was placed in the flight plan as the next fix; with dag being the 2nd fix now. During this time; pilot not flying was copying the rest of the reroute clearance which was after dag fly on the dag 031 radial to 39DME; then MVA on course. The aircraft had turned 60-70 degrees east of coarse; headed to 'D'. (An NDB in germana or something). The pilot not flying looked up to input the reroute; when both the pilot not flying and the pilot flying realized that they were off coarse. We made an immediate correction. All of this happened in our climb; between FL380 and FL390. By this time ATC had a reading on our course error; and issued a turn to a heading of 350 degrees. We advised ATC that we were turning in that direction. Then; asked if he wanted us to fly direct to dag. (Now; that we had corrected our mistake) he advised us that we were penetrating some conflicting airspace; and asked that we stay on the 350 degree heading. Eventually; ATC gave us direct dag; and we heard nothing more about the issue from ATC. I believe that the pilot flying was just trying to be helpful. It is spelled out in the cfm and in training that pilot flying should 'fly the airplane'; and backup the pilot not flying when inputting data in the FMS. I believe this was a case of not double checking what was entered before hitting the execute button; and making the change an active part of the flight plan. I believe that maybe an emphasis on crew duties when inputting data in the FMS may be needed. The execute button should not be pressed until 'both' crewmembers have an opportunity to agree that the proper change has been made during a reroute. Maybe it should be spelled out that the pilot not flying copies the reroute; and inputs the new route for pilot flying to review. Then; pilot flying presses the execute button; since this will impact where the aircraft will be turning if the autopilot is engaged.

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A LR60 had a track deviation after the pilot flying incorrectly entered the first fix on a new route of flight as the pilot not flying was copying the new clearance. ATC caught the error as the aircraft neared restricted airspace.

Narrative: We were in a climb to our filed altitude of FL 400. We were on our Flight planned route; south of the DAG VOR. While climbing through FL400; we were issued a reroute by ATC. The first fix in the reroute was direct DAG. Then; ATC began to give a radial and DME; when he told us to hold on so he could verify the clearance. The pilot not flying was copying clearance. The pilot flying went to the direct to page in the FMS; and began to type DAG; but realized that it was already in the flight plan on that page after he had put the letter 'D'. So the pilot flying line selected DAG and pressed execute. In the FMS 'D' is also a fix. It was in the scratch pad; and was placed in the flight plan as the next fix; with DAG being the 2nd fix now. During this time; pilot not flying was copying the rest of the reroute clearance which was after DAG fly on the DAG 031 radial to 39DME; then MVA on course. The aircraft had turned 60-70 degrees east of coarse; headed to 'D'. (an NDB in Germana or something). The pilot not flying looked up to input the reroute; when both the pilot not flying and the pilot flying realized that they were off coarse. We made an immediate correction. All of this happened in our climb; between FL380 and FL390. By this time ATC had a reading on our course error; and issued a Turn to a heading of 350 degrees. We advised ATC that we were turning in that direction. Then; asked if he wanted us to fly direct to DAG. (Now; that we had corrected our mistake) He advised us that we were penetrating some conflicting airspace; and asked that we stay on the 350 degree heading. Eventually; ATC gave us direct DAG; and we heard nothing more about the issue from ATC. I believe that the pilot flying was just trying to be helpful. It is spelled out in the CFM and in training that pilot flying should 'Fly the Airplane'; and backup the pilot not flying when inputting data in the FMS. I believe this was a case of not double checking what was entered before hitting the execute button; and making the change an ACTIVE part of the flight plan. I believe that maybe an emphasis on crew duties when inputting data in the FMS may be needed. The execute button should not be pressed until 'Both' crewmembers have an opportunity to agree that the proper change has been made during a reroute. Maybe it should be spelled out that the pilot not flying copies the reroute; and inputs the new route for pilot flying to review. Then; pilot flying presses the execute button; since this will impact where the aircraft will be turning if the autopilot is engaged.

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.