Narrative:

While on the teb 6 departure; I was given a vector to intercept colts neck; col VOR 350 degrees radial inbound. The departure routing is after 2000 ft and 280 heading; thence; as per notes or via vector to assigned route/fix. I understood coyle; cyn instead which was part of my clearance route. The heading I was given seemed logical for cyn 350 degrees. I programmed the GPS for the radial to cyn which is what I expected based on the text in the departure procedure which said as per notes or via vector to assigned route/fix. The one that I thought; expected; filed; and was cleared to; turned out to not be the one that ATC intended for me. Both vors were in close proximity; similar sounding when spoken and only cyn was in my flight plan and clearance route including the waypoints in the GPS from the departure procedure. Col appeared as a footnote to the text part of the departure procedure as a possibility. A short time after the heading to intercept the radial; I was given direct colts neck and contact new york departure. I unselected the radial and selected direct again to coyle and contacted the next controller. To me it seemed like a typical situation where ATC will have the pilot skip ahead a couple of close waypoints in a route. It also seemed logical based on the 'thence' part of the departure procedure that I was on. The next controller queried where I was going. My response was 'going to bct tonight' or something similar (still not aware that I am not heading for the VOR that new york departure intended for me to go to). The controller asked if I was going directly to bct (sarcastic) and told me to go to colts neck; gave me a heading to turn to immediately and admonished me. I was able to look at the whole flight plan again and realized that colts neck is not coyle and that even though they are very close in name; location and both were part of my flight plan and even though everything looked 'right' on my screens and seemed logical; it wasn't what ATC had intended me to do. This was a purely unintentional deviation from the ATC instruction on my part that was complicated by the somewhat vague departure procedure. According to my tcad and mode south; there was no traffic that was in the immediate area that my equipment determined to be a 'threat.' however; in addition to giving me an immediate climb and a heading; he gave at least one other plane a new heading.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A C441 pilot filed the TEB 6 SID to CYN. When given direct COL the pilot mistakenly turned to CYN confusing CYN and COL which are near each other and somewhat similar sounding.

Narrative: While on the TEB 6 Departure; I was given a vector to intercept Colts Neck; COL VOR 350 degrees radial inbound. The departure routing is after 2000 FT and 280 heading; thence; as per notes or via vector to assigned route/fix. I understood Coyle; CYN instead which was part of my clearance route. The heading I was given seemed logical for CYN 350 degrees. I programmed the GPS for the radial to CYN which is what I expected based on the text in the departure procedure which said as per notes or via vector to assigned route/fix. The one that I thought; expected; filed; and was cleared to; turned out to not be the one that ATC intended for me. Both VORs were in close proximity; similar sounding when spoken and only CYN was in my flight plan and clearance route including the waypoints in the GPS from the departure procedure. COL appeared as a footnote to the text part of the departure procedure as a possibility. A short time after the heading to intercept the radial; I was given direct Colts Neck and contact New York Departure. I unselected the radial and selected direct again to Coyle and contacted the next Controller. To me it seemed like a typical situation where ATC will have the pilot skip ahead a couple of close waypoints in a route. It also seemed logical based on the 'Thence' part of the departure procedure that I was on. The next Controller queried where I was going. My response was 'going to BCT tonight' or something similar (still not aware that I am not heading for the VOR that New York Departure intended for me to go to). The Controller asked if I was going directly to BCT (sarcastic) and told me to go to Colts Neck; gave me a heading to turn to immediately and admonished me. I was able to look at the whole flight plan again and realized that Colts Neck is not Coyle and that even though they are very close in name; location and both were part of my flight plan and even though everything looked 'right' on my screens and seemed logical; it wasn't what ATC had intended me to do. This was a purely unintentional deviation from the ATC instruction on my part that was complicated by the somewhat vague departure procedure. According to my TCAD and Mode S; there was no traffic that was in the immediate area that my equipment determined to be a 'threat.' However; in addition to giving me an immediate climb and a heading; he gave at least one other plane a new heading.

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.