B737 captain departing ewr on the EWR9 departure reports misunderstanding a clearance direct to zimm...

Attributes
ACN	982058
Time
Date	201111
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	EWR.Airport
State Reference	NJ
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737-800
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Climb
Route In Use	SID EWR9
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Total 10900
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Track / Heading All Types

Narrative:

On the EWR9 departure; departure control assigned direct to what we thought was; and read back as; 'direct vinse;' a waypoint on our route. A short time later; departure control asked us to confirm that we were direct zimmz; as he saw us proceeding westbound. He assigned direct zimmz; along with a heading of 310 degrees. We repeated this clearance and proceeded direct. I do not believe there was a conflict; although the controller did sound very agitated. Before leaving the frequency; I briefly explained to the controller the misunderstanding. The waypoints did sound very similar during reception.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737 Captain departing EWR on the EWR9 departure reports misunderstanding a clearance direct to ZIMMZ as a clearance direct to VINSE and reads that back. ATC does not detect the error until a track deviation occurs; then issues the clearance again.

Narrative: On the EWR9 departure; Departure Control assigned direct to what we thought was; and read back as; 'direct VINSE;' a waypoint on our route. A short time later; Departure Control asked us to confirm that we were direct ZIMMZ; as he saw us proceeding westbound. He assigned direct ZIMMZ; along with a heading of 310 degrees. We repeated this clearance and proceeded direct. I do not believe there was a conflict; although the Controller did sound very agitated. Before leaving the frequency; I briefly explained to the Controller the misunderstanding. The waypoints did sound very similar during reception.

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.

B737 captain departing ewr on the EWR9 departure reports misunderstanding a clearance direct to zimmz as a clearance direct to vinse and reads that back. ATC does not detect the error until a track deviation occurs; then issues the clearance again.