ZNY Controlled described a route error made by a corporate jet; the causal factor traced back to an incorrect Clearance Read Back and route clerical error made prior to take off.
Synopsis
ZNY Controlled described a route error made by a corporate jet; the causal factor traced back to an incorrect Clearance Read Back and route clerical error made prior to take off.
Narrative
This was a non RADAR ATOPS sector. At the time of event; Sector 87 and 89 were combined. There was significant weather in airspace and I started falling behind with the deviation requests along with the coordination and approvals. I requested the sector be split and at the time of this event; another CPC was waiting for a briefing to split the sector. It took about 15 minutes to get the time to brief as I was trying to get the sector caught up. The flight was CGRLE; A CL60 from TEB to TBPB at FL370. The ATOPS showed he had RTG SAVIK l459 CAFFE GUYRO on to TBPB. An error message popped up in the sector saying that the position report was accepted with points other than expected and please verify route of flight. This is a common message that the ATOPS sends out since there are many fixes on a route and often the next estimated fix is not the one the computer is looking for. I would say that 98% of those messages are deleted because they are useless. The aircraft is on the route and they just estimated an earlier at/later fix. When this message came up; I was involved worrying about other issues that I looked at it quickly and dismissed it thinking that it was just another errant message. This was that 2% time that it was valid and I missed it. Instead of flying the l459 route; the aircraft went DARUX direct to CAFFE down in SJU airspace. Instead of entering BDA airspace at DASER; the aircraft stayed West of BDA airspace and would have come close to a Westbound air carrier out of Bermuda had not the air carrier requested a climb from FL370 to FL380 for weather.Not much you can do with ATOPS. Seventy Five percent (75%) of all messages that come into the sector are useless and are deleted;; hundreds a day. It's not hard to get lulled into thinking messages are useless by just reading the first few lines and saying 'oh its one of these things again' and then delete it.
Second reporter narrative
During our flight from KTEB to TBPB; ATC informed us we were involved in a navigation error starting at position DARUX. From that point; we should have flown airway L459 to position CAFFE but I had written on the operational flight plan and programmed in the FMS a direct course to CAFFE. The mistake was caught by ATC after our DARUX position report and we were directed back on L459. I was asked to call ZNY which I did immediately. He told me that audiotape evaluation indicated that my readback from KTEB clearance was correct. As such; the mistake originated from a clerical error on the ground. Neither I; nor my First Officer; were tired. Due to delay in the clearance issuance in KTEB; the First Officer was not in the cockpit when it was issued. Extensive reroutes were given as part of the ground clearance. The flight was an indoctrination flight for a new First Officer; some of my concentration was directed to that end. No other traffic was seen on TCAS during our lateral excursion.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.