<< >> NASA ASRS Report 1718453, January 2020

Air carrier captain reported a course deviation due mistaking similar sounding fix names surnam and sulom.

Attributes
ACN	1718453
Time
Date	202001
Place
Locale Reference	VIDF.ARTCC
State Reference	FO
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Commercial Fixed Wing
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Climb
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Not Flying
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 82 Flight Crew Type 66
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Track / Heading All Types

Narrative:

We departed. ATC first gave us a left turn to a waypoint which we understood as a different waypoint that is on the border. ATC corrected himself and said right turn to surnam which again we all heard as sulom. As we maid our turn to the right and then proceeded LNAV to sulom ATC asked where we were going. We phonetically replied sulom. We were given new heading and clearance to surnam.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air Carrier Captain reported a course deviation due mistaking similar sounding fix names SURNAM and SULOM.

Narrative: We departed. ATC first gave us a left turn to a waypoint which we understood as a different waypoint that is on the border. ATC corrected himself and said right turn to SURNAM which again we all heard as SULOM. As we maid our turn to the right and then proceeded LNAV to SULOM ATC asked where we were going. We phonetically replied SULOM. We were given new heading and clearance to SURNAM.

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.