B767 FLT CREW PROGRAMS THE ACFT'S FMC IMPROPERLY AND HAS A COURSE DEV WHILE ENRTE TO JFK.

Narrative

STARTING TO PROGRAM THE FMC ON FLT 14 FROM SFO TO JFK; I HAD PROBS ENTERING THE RTE THE WAY IT WAS DEPICTED ON THE FLT PLAN. ON THIS FLT PLAN; THERE WAS A SEGMENT WHERE AN AIRWAY WAS INTERSECTING AN AIRWAY. WE WERE GOING FROM SFO-LIN-J84-MVA-J154-J158-OCS. NO MATTER HOW I TRIED TO ENTER THE RTE; IT WOULD NOT ALLOW ME TO ENTER THE RTE THE WAY IT WAS DEPICTED ON THE FLT PLAN. I ASKED MY FO TO TAKE A LOOK AT THE ENTRY I HAD MADE; AND HE AGREED WHAT I HAD ENTERED WAS CORRECT; SO WE DECIDED TO ACTIVATE THE RTE. UPON ENTERING ZLC; ATC ASKED WHERE WE WERE GOING; AND WE SAID WE WERE GOING ALONG J154. HE SAID WE WERE 20 MI N OF J154 AND CLRED US DIRECT OCS. AFTER LOOKING AT OUR POS CLOSER; WE DISCOVERED HE WAS CORRECT; AND THAT WE WERE 20 MI N OF J154. I TRIED TO DUPLICATE MY ENTRY USING THE RTE 2 PAGE ON THE FMC; AND THE CLOSEST I COULD FIGURE IS THAT INSTEAD OF GOING FROM MVA J158-J154-OCS; WE HAD FLOWN FROM THE XING OF J158-J154 DIRECT OCS. DURING THIS PROCESS; I DISCOVERED THAT THE WAY WE ARE TRAINED TO ENTER THIS INTXN IS NOT VERY GOOD; AND THAT THERE IS A BETTER WAY OF DOING IT WITH LESS STEPS AND LESS CHANCES FOR ERROR. I WILL PASS THIS INFO TO YOU IF YOU ARE INTERESTED. CALL ME OR SEND ME A E-NOTE.