Narrative:

Departed jfk radar vectors to wavey intersection as filed. Cleared direct wavey. ATC informed us we were 5 miles west of wavey. Our FMS indicated we were direct. I requested we stay on course and see if after crossing wavey; we showed direct emjay (filed). ATC agreed; and after crossing wavey; we turned direct emjay and ATC confirmed they showed us direct emjay. ATC then asked what coordinate we showed for wavey and we compared what they had and what coordinates were on the departure. The wavey we had in our FMS was off significantly. FMS- N40 14.10/W73 14.80 ATC/plate- N40 14.10/W73 23.70. We informed ATC we would contact our company to try to figure out the problem. During our flight; and after further investigation; it turns out that wavey was a user defined waypoint. I erased it and tried to enter the waypoint again; but it was not in the FMS database. I then re-defined wavey as a user defined waypoint with the correct lat and long. I'm not sure how this could have been avoided. When entering the flight plan; I plugged in wavey and it appeared as a normal waypoint- no indication it was a user-defined waypoint. This is a waypoint that was on the departure and low chart so why wasn't it in the FMS database? It was defined by a radial from jfk; but we weren't on that radial when we were cleared direct and the CDI was active as we approached what we thought was the waypoint. I think this is a flaw in the FMS database initially; followed by an error by whomever previously programed the wrong coordinates in the FMS.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: EMB145 Captain is informed by ATC that he is off course while attempting to proceed direct to WAVEY. After some checking it is discovered that WAVEY is not part of the FMC database and that the user defined WAVEY that was being used by the FMC had been improperly defined by a previous user.

Narrative: Departed JFK radar vectors to WAVEY intersection as filed. Cleared direct WAVEY. ATC informed us we were 5 miles west of WAVEY. Our FMS indicated we were direct. I requested we stay on course and see if after crossing WAVEY; we showed direct EMJAY (filed). ATC agreed; and after crossing WAVEY; we turned direct EMJAY and ATC confirmed they showed us direct EMJAY. ATC then asked what coordinate we showed for WAVEY and we compared what they had and what coordinates were on the departure. The WAVEY we had in our FMS was off significantly. FMS- N40 14.10/W73 14.80 ATC/Plate- N40 14.10/W73 23.70. We informed ATC we would contact our company to try to figure out the problem. During our flight; and after further investigation; it turns out that WAVEY was a user defined waypoint. I erased it and tried to enter the waypoint again; but it was not in the FMS database. I then re-defined WAVEY as a user defined waypoint with the correct lat and long. I'm not sure how this could have been avoided. When entering the flight plan; I plugged in WAVEY and it appeared as a normal waypoint- no indication it was a user-defined waypoint. This is a waypoint that was on the departure and low chart so why wasn't it in the FMS database? It was defined by a radial from JFK; but we weren't on that radial when we were cleared direct and the CDI was active as we approached what we thought was the waypoint. I think this is a flaw in the FMS database initially; followed by an error by whomever previously programed the wrong coordinates in the FMS.

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.