AN ACR PLT EXPERIENCED CONFUSION WITH SIMILAR-APPEARING WAYPOINT NAMES. RPTR SUGGESTS THAT A DISTINCTION BETWEEN THE NUMBER 0 (ZERO) AND THE LETTER O BE MADE BY ALL AERONAUTICAL PUBLISHERS TO PREVENT CONFUSION IN FLT PLANS AND DATABASE ENTRIES.

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I WOULD LIKE TO POINT OUT A POTENTIALLY SERIOUS HUMAN FACTORS ERROR. PLEASE NOTE THAT MY PREVIOUS RPT REGARDING MISSING DATABASE WAYPOINT KU720 WAS IN ERROR. I FLEW THE SAME ACFT BACK FROM JFK TO SFO TODAY; AND -- AFTER CONSIDERABLE FMC FIX PAGE PROGRAMMING WORK -- FINALLY NOTICED THIS DATABASE WAYPOINT WAS VALID. I HAD BEEN ERRONEOUSLY ATTEMPTING TO ENTER KU720 IN THE FMC PLAN RTE THE PREVIOUS DAY BY USING A NUMERIC 'ZERO' INSTEAD OF THE ALPHA LETTER 'O.' AS PRINTED ON OUR FLT PLANS AND COMMERCIAL CHARTS; IT IS VERY DIFFICULT TO VISUALLY DISTINGUISH A ZERO FROM THE ALPHA LETTER O. IF THE FO AND I HAD NOT RIGOROUSLY FOLLOWED THE OPERATING MANUAL REQUIREMENT TO CHK FMC FLT PLAN RTE AND LEGS THE PREVIOUS DAY; I AM CONVINCED THAT A SERIOUS NAVIGATION ERROR WOULD HAVE OCCURRED. I HAVE FOUR CORRECTIVE RECOMMENDATIONS: 1) ON FLT PLANS; OUR COMPUTERS BE RE-PROGRAMMED TO PRINT THE ALPHA CHARACTER 'O' IN A HEAVILY SLANTED FONT TO VISUALLY DISTINGUISH IT FROM THE NUMBER ZERO. 2) WE URGE THE COMMERCIAL CHART COMPANY TO USE THE SAME HEAVILY SLANTED FONT WHEN PRINTING THEIR CHARTS. 3) THIS POTENTIAL HUMAN FACTORS ERROR BE ADDED TO ALL FLEET GND SCHOOL CURRICULUMS SO OUR CREWS ARE ALERTED. 4) THIS DEBRIEF SHOULD BE SHARED WITH OTHER AIRLINES IN THE INTEREST OF SAFETY.