Narrative:

Departed bwi runway 33R with vectors for the paleo 3 SID. After numerous vectors and climb instructions; I was told 180 on the heading; join V44. A less complicated and more easily understood clearance would have been 'join the departure'. By saying 'join V44' I went to the enroute chart to confirm that V44 indeed started with the 133 off balance to paleo and not the 091 from aml. While this is pretty easily seen from a desk try it at 200K. Please remember that during all this I had been receiving climb clearances. After about 1 minute I realized I had passed paleo. And started correcting. Then shortly ATC called and questioned me. I told him we were correcting. He said we were seven miles past paleo; this would not have put us seven miles off the departure though; since it was only a 37 degree heading change.my problem is that ATC; mostly at major airports; thinks everyone: 1. Is in a jet 2. Has a two man crew 3. Has a flight management system. They have no idea how quickly a single pilot can be overloaded; they constantly do things that make you do 2 or more things at once; a frequency or heading change while leveling off for example. These things are of little concern to 2 man crews but try it by yourself at 200+K. In this case saying 'join the departure' would have eliminated the confusion. This type of problem seems to be getting worse with time. If I have problems (annual training; high time; current etc.) I worry about a lot of other pilots.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An Aerostar Pilot took umbrage with the phraseology of a clearance to intercept a SID from the Departure Controller.

Narrative: Departed BWI Runway 33R with vectors for the PALEO 3 SID. After numerous vectors and climb instructions; I was told 180 on the heading; join V44. A less complicated and more easily understood clearance would have been 'join the departure'. By saying 'join V44' I went to the enroute chart to confirm that V44 indeed started with the 133 off BAL to PALEO and not the 091 from AML. While this is pretty easily seen from a desk try it at 200K. Please remember that during all this I had been receiving climb clearances. After about 1 minute I realized I had passed PALEO. And started correcting. Then shortly ATC called and questioned me. I told him we were correcting. He said we were seven miles past PALEO; this would not have put us seven miles off the departure though; since it was only a 37 degree heading change.My problem is that ATC; mostly at major airports; thinks everyone: 1. Is in a jet 2. Has a two man crew 3. Has a flight management system. They have no idea how quickly a single pilot can be overloaded; they constantly do things that make you do 2 or more things at once; a frequency or heading change while leveling off for example. These things are of little concern to 2 man crews but try it by yourself at 200+K. In this case saying 'join the departure' would have eliminated the confusion. This type of problem seems to be getting worse with time. If I have problems (annual training; high time; current etc.) I worry about a lot of other pilots.

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.