AN ACR A300 FLC MISUNDERSTANDS A PDC THAT CONTAINED A RTE CHANGE AND THEY GET OFF RTE.

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THIS EVENT WAS CAUSED BY RTE AMBIGUITY ON THE PDC. THE FILED RTE ON THE FLT PLAN RELEASE WAS ORD GIJ FWA V144 ./.LCK. THE RTE ON THE PDC SHOWED THE SAME. AFTER CTR ASKED WE EXPECTED YOU ON THE GIPPER 092 DEG RADIAL WHAT WAS YOUR CLRNC? A RECHK CONFIRMED THAT WE WERE ON THE CLRED RTE. CTR SAID THAT HE WOULD TAKE IT UP WITH ORD TWR. NORMALLY; THIS QUALIFIER SHOWS A MEANS TO GET TO THE FIRST FIX; NOT A SIGNIFICANT DEV IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FILED RTE. ADDITIONALLY; THE USE OF ./. 'TO REPRESENT THE FILED RTE OF FLT' (FOM PAGE 4-9) LED US TO A FALSE SENSE OF SECURITY. SINCE THE PDC PROGRAM STARTED; I HAVE OBSERVED (PERHAPS INCORRECTLY) THAT THE RTE OF FLT WAS SEQUENTIAL WITH THE OCCASIONAL ADDITION OF A MODIFIER TO GET TO THE FIRST PART OF THE RTE. CRUCIAL ITEMS NEED TO BE CLEARLY STATED IN TERMS THAT WILL NOT BE MISREAD...NOT WITH THE FEWEST NUMBER OF CHARACTERS. THE INCLUSION OF ANY STATEMENT SUCH AS 'AFTER GIJ FLY 092R 36D DIR FWA' ON A TEXT LINE OR MERELY SHOWING ORD GIJ 092036 FWA V144 WOULD HAVE MADE IT DIFFICULT FOR US TO MISS THIS CRUCIAL INFO EVEN IN OUR HIGH WORKLOAD STATUS. (NOTE THAT GIJ 092R 36DME IS SEWTO INTXN AS SHOW ON US(LO) 31.) THERE WERE SEVERAL CONTRIBUTING FACTORS. 1) LATE ARRIVAL AT THE ACFT. 2) LAST MINUTE DECISION TO DEICE/ANTI-ICE ACFT WITH DETERIORATING WX. 3) HIGH FLT CREW WORKLOAD PREVENTING ROUTINE RECHECKING OF ROUTE. 4) CTLR WORKLOAD PREVENTING ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF OUR CHECK IN. 5) FLYING AN UNFAMILIAR ROUTE. IN THE FUTURE; I WILL BE MORE DILIGENT LOOKING FOR AMBIGUITIES IN OUR CLRNC.