Narrative:

The captain called out vr and I rotated the aircraft into the command bars. At 'positive rate' I called for 'gear up...speed mode.' it was selected by the captain. Upon reaching 400 feet AGL; I called for navigation mode and with peripheral vision; witnessed the captain reach up and select it. My primary focus at that moment was the staying in the command bars and monitoring airspeed and altitude as I called for 'speed 200' and flaps one on schedule. It was at this time that I noticed the aircraft was continuing straight ahead and deviating from the RNAV route that slightly angled north on the moving map. Captain called out 'we're off course' at the same time and I immediately realized the aircraft was in heading mode and began to turn back on course. After making the correction and during the turn back to the RNAV route; ATC asked if we were RNAV to snufy. We confirmed we were in the turn and doing so; however ATC did say he needed us back on track as soon as possible. I increased the turn and shortly resumed normal navigation. The captain then selected navigation mode and we never heard anything from ATC other than a frequency change to departure.after discussing it with the captain; I believe he accidentally selected heading mode instead of navigation mode. The previous legs had all been done in heading mode on departure; and I think he just instinctively selected heading over navigation. In the future; I will be certain to verify the mode I call for has been selected and is verified.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: CRJ-700 flight crew advised by ATC of a track deviation which was caused by Captain accidentally selecting HDG mode rather than NAV mode on RNAV departure.

Narrative: The Captain called out Vr and I rotated the aircraft into the command bars. At 'positive rate' I called for 'gear up...speed mode.' It was selected by the Captain. Upon reaching 400 feet AGL; I called for NAV mode and with peripheral vision; witnessed the Captain reach up and select it. My primary focus at that moment was the staying in the command bars and monitoring airspeed and altitude as I called for 'speed 200' and flaps one on schedule. It was at this time that I noticed the aircraft was continuing straight ahead and deviating from the RNAV route that slightly angled north on the moving map. Captain called out 'We're off course' at the same time and I immediately realized the aircraft was in HDG mode and began to turn back on course. After making the correction and during the turn back to the RNAV route; ATC asked if we were RNAV to SNUFY. We confirmed we were in the turn and doing so; however ATC did say he needed us back on track ASAP. I increased the turn and shortly resumed normal navigation. The Captain then selected NAV mode and we never heard anything from ATC other than a frequency change to Departure.After discussing it with the Captain; I believe he accidentally selected HDG mode instead of NAV mode. The previous legs had all been done in HDG mode on departure; and I think he just instinctively selected HDG over NAV. In the future; I will be certain to verify the mode I call for has been selected and is verified.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.