Narrative:

Departing pvd we received the release with non-standard routing: pvd.PVD180.jumpr.MVY260.rifle.J174.zizzi.ATR085.ATR.V308.bilit. I discussed the departure routing with the first officer (first officer) and we made particular comments on the jumpr.MVY260.rifle portion of the route. I have flown this departure before and remembered that there is a 'gotcha' on it. I continued with my preflight duties while the first officer obtained the clearance and programmed the FMC. During the departure brief we reviewed the FMC programming and I saw where the first officer had the mvy 260 radial after jumpr and before rifle. Everything appeared correct and we even discussed it more. Eventually; we were satisfied with the routing and FMC programming; this was our first mistake.during climb out after being handed off from departure control to boston center and cleared to intercept the pvd 180 radial to jumpr and on course; we were doing the usual after departure duties when we arrived at the jumpr intersection. We both immediately realized something was not right when the aircraft (coupled on autopilot in LNAV) began a turn to the east. We quickly realized the LNAV had intercepted the mvy 260 redial inbound to mvy versus outbound to the rifle intersection. Almost simultaneously; ATC asked; 'where are you going?' I explained the problem and told him we were turning to fly MVY260 to rifle and he cleared us direct to emjay; (the next fix). ATC asked if it was a routing problem or an aircraft problem and I stated we had mis-programmed the flight computer; to which he replied that the reason he asked was that 'this problem' had happened a couple of times in the last week or so. The remainder of the flight was uneventful.this is a mistake that probably would not have happened if we had gotten out the charts and seen that in fact the jumpr fix is really on the mvy 260 radial and that the proper way to program the FMC would be simply be to put jumpr direct rifle. Sometimes; in the heat of trying to push on time; we gloss over things we think we know when we should just slow down and back up all we do. Also; if we had been in a -700; the display of the route would have alerted us to the fact that there was a problem with the routing before we actually made the wrong turn. I feel very sure the other 'problems' that ATC referred to were probably in non -700 series aircraft. I'm not really sure why we are given the routing this particular way as it can be very confusing. I called dispatch upon arrival and questioned the reason for this type routing versus jumpr direct to rifle since that fix is on the mvy 260 radial. She stated that she would get with planning and see if something could be done. Long story short; just like we say every day; slow down and pull out the charts if there is any question about anything!

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737-300 Captain describes how the FMC was mis-programed during preflight resulting in a track deviation on departure.

Narrative: Departing PVD we received the release with non-standard routing: PVD.PVD180.JUMPR.MVY260.RIFLE.J174.ZIZZI.ATR085.ATR.V308.BILIT. I discussed the departure routing with the First Officer (FO) and we made particular comments on the JUMPR.MVY260.RIFLE portion of the route. I have flown this departure before and remembered that there is a 'gotcha' on it. I continued with my preflight duties while the FO obtained the clearance and programmed the FMC. During the departure brief we reviewed the FMC programming and I saw where the FO had the MVY 260 radial after JUMPR and before RIFLE. Everything appeared correct and we even discussed it more. Eventually; we were satisfied with the routing and FMC programming; this was our first mistake.During climb out after being handed off from Departure Control to Boston Center and cleared to intercept the PVD 180 radial to JUMPR and on course; we were doing the usual after departure duties when we arrived at the JUMPR intersection. We both immediately realized something was not right when the aircraft (coupled on autopilot in LNAV) began a turn to the east. We quickly realized the LNAV had intercepted the MVY 260 redial inbound to MVY versus outbound to the RIFLE intersection. Almost simultaneously; ATC asked; 'Where are you going?' I explained the problem and told him we were turning to fly MVY260 to RIFLE and he cleared us direct to EMJAY; (the next fix). ATC asked if it was a routing problem or an aircraft problem and I stated we had mis-programmed the flight computer; to which he replied that the reason he asked was that 'this problem' had happened a couple of times in the last week or so. The remainder of the flight was uneventful.This is a mistake that probably would not have happened if we had gotten out the charts and seen that in fact the JUMPR fix is really on the MVY 260 radial and that the proper way to program the FMC would be simply be to put JUMPR direct RIFLE. Sometimes; in the heat of trying to push on time; we gloss over things we think we know when we should just slow down and back up all we do. Also; if we had been in a -700; the display of the route would have alerted us to the fact that there was a problem with the routing before we actually made the wrong turn. I feel very sure the other 'problems' that ATC referred to were probably in non -700 series aircraft. I'm not really sure why we are given the routing this particular way as it can be very confusing. I called Dispatch upon arrival and questioned the reason for this type routing versus JUMPR direct to RIFLE since that fix is on the MVY 260 radial. She stated that she would get with Planning and see if something could be done. Long story short; just like we say every day; slow down and pull out the charts if there is any question about anything!

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.