Corporate flight crew reported a course deviation during climb and safety concern due to similar sounding navigation fixes. ATC clarified the proper spelling of the fix.
Synopsis
Corporate flight crew reported a course deviation during climb and safety concern due to similar sounding navigation fixes. ATC clarified the proper spelling of the fix.
Narrative
I received a full route clearance (different from our filed and expected route) from PHF ground without being alerted that it was going to be full route. The controller read out the first five fixes; some waypoints and some VORs; at a very fast pace and without phonetic spelling. I stated I was not familiar and requested read back phonetically. He proceeded at the same pace; I copied as best I could and read back. After departure; we received clearance to the fix in question; 'KELLE;' which I had copied as; 'KELLY;' and entered into the FMS. The course direct KELLY coincided with the route we expected; so we did not see a problem. Our Multi function flight display (MFD) was zoomed in to the point that we did not see the full route and we missed the increase of distance and time on the full route. A minute later the controller asked if we were direct KELLE and we the Non-pilot flying (NFP) replied; affirmative. The controller then confirmed phonetically; 'KELLE;' and we replied we were direct; 'KELLY.' I asked for a heading until the NFP put the correct fix in the FMS. There were no aircraft conflicts.The error chain began with a fast clearance to fixes I did not know; as I was not a local operator. Had I been alerted that it would be a full route clearance; read at a reasonable pace and phonetically; I feel confident we would have avoided this error. We looked back at my writing and it did state KELLY; not KELLE. I did not read the clearance back phonetically and do not know if I miss spelled it; or if the controller did. The error chain continued when we did not zoom out and look at the entire route; or cross check total distance and time in the FMS. Additionally; the confidence my colleague and I have in each other contributed to complacency in cross checking each other's work. We both debriefed that we should have performed a cross check and looked at the entirety of the route on the MFD.We will be discussing the error with our flight department to ensure we follow best practices of cross checking each other; confirming FMS total route time and distance with our planned route and visually confirming the route on the MFD.
Second reporter narrative
My colleague copied clearance via voice on ground in PHF (Newport News). Controller read clearance fast and my colleague had to have him read many of the fixes back phonetically; which he also did at a fast pace. One of the fixes was KELLE; which was entered as KELLY. The controller missed his improper readback on KELLE as well. Upon being cleared to the fix; it was proper direction towards our destination so we didn't catch it was almost 500 miles away (which would have been a red flag for east coast flying). The Wash center controller queried us on if we were going to 'Kelly'; which we replied affirmative. Several minutes later; we were queried again but then given the spelling as KELLE. I replied that we had been going direct KELLY and then changed our FMS to KELLE. Had I zoomed out on the MFD to see our entire routing; it would have been clear we had the wrong 'Kelly' as a fix. We are filling out a form internally and plan to discuss our mistake at our next pilot meeting. Furthermore; we are enrolling in the safety reporting program.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.