Aircraft navigation system initiates smart turn prior to sgd; causing potential conflict with other ...

Attributes
ACN	845322
Time
Date	200907
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	APC.Airport
State Reference	CA
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Light Transport Low Wing 2 Turbojet Eng
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Climb
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Autoflight System
Person 1
Function	Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Person 2
Function	Pilot Not Flying First Officer
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Conflict Airborne Conflict Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Track / Heading All Types

Narrative:

Departed 18R apc. Clearance was sgd lin etc. Maintain 3000. Sgd requires a right turn off of 18R and is located a few miles southwest from the airport. Lin the next fix is east of sgd which requires greater than a 90 degree turn to the left. On departure we engaged nav mode and turned right towards sgd. I do not recall how close we were to sgd when the FMS initiated the smart turn to the left to intercept the next leg but halfway through the turn ATC issued a climbing right 270 degree turn to the right and at the same time we received a TA. ATC then asked if we flew runway heading after departure or if we went to sgd. We told them we went to sgd. In hindsight I think that the smart turn caught ATC off guard causing the loss of separation. I don't think we did anything incorrectly; however maybe we should have asked ATC about such a large heading change prior to the change or ATC should specify sgd as a flyover waypoint in the clearance.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Aircraft NAV system initiates smart turn prior to SGD; causing potential conflict with other traffic

Narrative: Departed 18R APC. Clearance was SGD LIN etc. Maintain 3000. SGD requires a right turn off of 18R and is located a few miles southwest from the airport. LIN the next fix is east of SGD which requires greater than a 90 degree turn to the left. On departure we engaged nav mode and turned right towards SGD. I do not recall how close we were to SGD when the FMS initiated the smart turn to the left to intercept the next leg but halfway through the turn ATC issued a climbing right 270 degree turn to the right and at the same time we received a TA. ATC then asked if we flew runway heading after departure or if we went to SGD. We told them we went to SGD. In hindsight I think that the smart turn caught ATC off guard causing the loss of separation. I don't think we did anything incorrectly; however maybe we should have asked ATC about such a large heading change prior to the change or ATC should specify SGD as a flyover waypoint in the clearance.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.

Aircraft navigation system initiates smart turn prior to sgd; causing potential conflict with other traffic