BE20 captain turned in the wrong direction after takeoff due to an erroneous GPS heading that was no...

Narrative:

We were issued a full route clearance before departure. I was pilot flying and during the taxi the first officer programmed the GPS with the waypoints. While holding for departure and waiting for clearance delivery to release us; I entered 'direct' to the first waypoint into the GPS to determine what heading to fly after takeoff. The indicated direction of flight was 240 degrees which would have been a left turn after departure. I set the CDI on my HSI for that heading. Clearance delivery released us and I flew the runway heading for a minute while gaining altitude and allowing the first officer; who was working the radios; time to contact departure. Passing through 800 ft AGL; I started a left turn and contact was established with ATC. Washington departure indicated 'radar contact' and requested an immediate right turn to 040; which I complied with. The controller then asked; 'where were you going?' since the first officer was completing the after takeoff check list; I replied to ATC. I told them our first fix and that I was turning in that direction. The controller then repeated twice something to the effect of; 'I'm still trying to figure out what you were doing?' since I was hand flying the aircraft; it took some time to determine what the situation was. I determined that before takeoff the GPS was displaying a fix several waypoints into the flight and when I entered direct before departure that was the direction I was given. At the time I did not consult a chart to decide if that was the proper direction to get to our 'proper' first fix. I had no situational awareness of where the waypoint was in relation to where we were from it. I did not take time to review the program route that the first officer entered into the GPS. At no time were we more than five miles from the airport and there were no traffic conflicts. After reviewing the turn; I see that if I had continued to a 240 heading; it would have pointed the aircraft toward the washington dc area.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: BE20 Captain turned in the wrong direction after takeoff due to an erroneous GPS heading that was not confirmed by reference to the charted departure.

Narrative: We were issued a full route clearance before departure. I was pilot flying and during the taxi the First Officer programmed the GPS with the waypoints. While holding for departure and waiting for Clearance Delivery to release us; I entered 'Direct' to the first waypoint into the GPS to determine what heading to fly after takeoff. The indicated direction of flight was 240 degrees which would have been a left turn after departure. I set the CDI on my HSI for that heading. Clearance Delivery released us and I flew the runway heading for a minute while gaining altitude and allowing the First Officer; who was working the radios; time to contact Departure. Passing through 800 FT AGL; I started a left turn and contact was established with ATC. Washington Departure indicated 'radar contact' and requested an immediate right turn to 040; which I complied with. The Controller then asked; 'where were you going?' Since the First Officer was completing the After Takeoff check list; I replied to ATC. I told them our first fix and that I was turning in that direction. The Controller then repeated twice something to the effect of; 'I'm still trying to figure out what you were doing?' Since I was hand flying the aircraft; it took some time to determine what the situation was. I determined that before takeoff the GPS was displaying a fix several waypoints into the flight and when I entered DIRECT before departure that was the direction I was given. At the time I did not consult a chart to decide if that was the proper direction to get to our 'proper' first fix. I had no situational awareness of where the waypoint was in relation to where we were from it. I did not take time to review the program route that the First Officer entered into the GPS. At no time were we more than five miles from the airport and there were no traffic conflicts. After reviewing the turn; I see that if I had continued to a 240 heading; it would have pointed the aircraft toward the Washington DC area.

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.

Attributes
ACN	954638
Time
Date	201106
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	PCT.TRACON
State Reference	VA
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Super King Air 200
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 135
Flight Phase	Initial Climb
Route In Use	Direct
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	GPS & Other Satellite Navigation
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Multiengine
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 65 Flight Crew Total 6120 Flight Crew Type 330
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Deviation - Track / Heading All Types

BE20 captain turned in the wrong direction after takeoff due to an erroneous GPS heading that was not confirmed by reference to the charted departure.