Narrative:

Our crew arrived at fnlu (luanda; africa). We were flying from luanda to the caribbean for a fuel stop; then continuing on to north america. Luanda had runway construction and the available runway was only 2;600 meters. I was advised later that there was only 2;100 meters for takeoff on runway 23 in fnlu. The captain was giving line training to a new pilot. I was in the right seat for this takeoff and was the flying pilot. The captain loaded the flight plan into FMC and added a wrong way point. He added south 02 west 20 when he should have entered north 02 west 20. During this time; I was doing the takeoff performance for runway 05. There was a 15 KT tailwind. We couldn't takeoff on runway 05; it had to be runway 23 as the wind was 240/15. I advised tower we needed [runway] 23 for takeoff. When I was done with takeoff performance; I started to check total distance and waypoints. The total distance was off by 40 miles. I thought this was ok because the arrival airport was not in the data base in FMC. We had to build the approach. When I started to check each waypoint in FMC; the tower called and said there was only 2;100 meters for takeoff. I stopped my waypoint check to see if we could even take off. We were under a time limit before airport closed. All were rushing to get ready. I did not finish my way point check and did not see the error in the flight plan. We took off and climbed to FL340 and we [had] cpdlc later in flight with dakar (gooo). We were headed to south 02 west 20; that was wrong. The captain loaded wrong way point. Dakar advised to report north 02 west 20. The captain said; 'no; we were going to south 02 west 20.' then we received a message from dispatch to report north 02 west 20. Then it hit me and I checked the flight plan. We were going to the wrong waypoint. We turned 30 degrees right to buvak intersection and were back on course. I was doing the plotting chart at the time. All was ok; until my south 02 west 20. It was turbulent at time of plot and thought I had plotted wrong. Then it all became clear that we were off course. If I had more time to check waypoints on ground in luanda; I would have caught wrong fix. If the flight plan was downloaded to FMC with all way points this would have been avoided. If the tower had had the right runway length for runway 23; I wouldn't have been taken away from my waypoint check on the flight plan.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B747 flight crew reports a track deviation during a flight from Southern Africa to the Caribbean. A waypoint at 02 North and 20 West is entered as 02 South and 20 West and not detected until queried by ATC. Distractions during preflight interrupted waypoint checking in the FMC.

Narrative: Our crew arrived at FNLU (Luanda; Africa). We were flying from Luanda to the Caribbean for a fuel stop; then continuing on to North America. Luanda had runway construction and the available runway was only 2;600 meters. I was advised later that there was only 2;100 meters for takeoff on Runway 23 in FNLU. The Captain was giving line training to a new pilot. I was in the right seat for this takeoff and was the flying pilot. The Captain loaded the flight plan into FMC and added a wrong way point. He added South 02 West 20 when he should have entered North 02 West 20. During this time; I was doing the takeoff performance for Runway 05. There was a 15 KT tailwind. We couldn't takeoff on Runway 05; it had to be Runway 23 as the wind was 240/15. I advised Tower we needed [Runway] 23 for takeoff. When I was done with takeoff performance; I started to check total distance and waypoints. The total distance was off by 40 miles. I thought this was ok because the arrival airport was not in the data base in FMC. We had to build the approach. When I started to check each waypoint in FMC; the Tower called and said there was only 2;100 meters for takeoff. I stopped my waypoint check to see if we could even take off. We were under a time limit before airport closed. All were rushing to get ready. I did not finish my way point check and did not see the error in the flight plan. We took off and climbed to FL340 and we [had] CPDLC later in flight with Dakar (GOOO). We were headed to South 02 West 20; that was wrong. The Captain loaded wrong way point. Dakar advised to report North 02 West 20. The Captain said; 'No; we were going to South 02 West 20.' Then we received a message from Dispatch to report North 02 West 20. Then it hit me and I checked the flight plan. We were going to the wrong waypoint. We turned 30 degrees right to BUVAK intersection and were back on course. I was doing the plotting chart at the time. All was ok; until my South 02 West 20. It was turbulent at time of plot and thought I had plotted wrong. Then it all became clear that we were off course. If I had more time to check waypoints on ground in Luanda; I would have caught wrong fix. If the flight plan was downloaded to FMC with all way points this would have been avoided. If the Tower had had the right runway length for Runway 23; I wouldn't have been taken away from my waypoint check on the flight plan.

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.