The Flight Crew of a B757-200 flight received a clearance including the waypoint KI570 but were unable to successfully load it in their FMC. They then 'built' a fix off of AIR VOR. Ultimately this fix turned out to be incorrect; ATC intervened and the Flight Crew learned that they had failed to attempt loading the proper alphanumeric form of the I/1 and the O/0.
Synopsis
The Flight Crew of a B757-200 flight received a clearance including the waypoint KI570 but were unable to successfully load it in their FMC. They then 'built' a fix off of AIR VOR. Ultimately this fix turned out to be incorrect; ATC intervened and the Flight Crew learned that they had failed to attempt loading the proper alphanumeric form of the I/1 and the O/0.
Narrative
Center inquired where we were heading sometime after passing AIR VOR. We responded 'KI570' [Kilo India five seven Zero]; and were given an immediate clearance to proceed direct to STL; our next flight plan fix. We were in LNAV and on the active route line. Approximately 40 minutes later; Kansas City Center gave us a phone number to contact Indianapolis Center upon landing. The controller advised me that we were approximately 28 miles north of course before giving us direct STL and asked if I had any idea what happened. At the time I thought that we were heading to KI570 and couldn't explain what exactly happened. Fortunately; there was no reported traffic conflict.In retrospect; during preflight; I couldn't get the FMC to recognize KI570; even after entering it several different ways. I couldn't find it on the enroute chart (until much later after the message from Kansas City Center) so I constructed a fix from the flight plan off the AIR VOR. Apparently; I must have entered the wrong bearing; although I recall that the distance was correct; and we did not notice the error during our preflight route verification check. I have never had this sort of waypoint in a clearance before. After my phone conversation with the controller; I researched the FOM and found a short narrative on NRS [Navigational Reference System] waypoints and how they are named. My error had been trying to enter a 'one' for the 'I'; along with a 'zero' for the 'O'; with several variations of each. Regretfully; I never entered the 'I' and the 'O' at the same time. Although this is not an excuse for my error; my attention had been preoccupied with several other issues during the boarding process and I allowed myself to be somewhat rushed and allowed an unintentional faulty FMC entry to occur and subsequently missed it during the route verification process. Although I consider myself more aware of NRS waypoints; I would recommend that the 'I''s and the 'O''s be omitted from the naming process since they are difficult to distinguish on the flight plan lettering format. In the future; I will not be satisfied until the waypoint format is accepted by the FMC database.
Second reporter narrative
During preflight operations; the Captain entered the routing into the FMC. A discussion persisted as to how to enter 'KI57O'. We tried K-EYE-57-zero; K-One-57-zero; etc. After several attempts; the captain decided to 'build the fix'. During route verification; I confirmed that the FMC fix AIR51 was KI57O by verifying the leg distance off of AIR - 242 miles. I did NOT verify the course heading and proceeded to verify the remainder of the route.
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Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.