After departing atl; TRACON cleared an air carrier aircraft to zelle. The crew heard zelan but ATC d...

Attributes
ACN	885538
Time
Date	201004
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ATL.Airport
State Reference	GA
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Large Transport Low Wing 2 Turbojet Eng
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Initial Climb
Route In Use	Direct
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying First Officer
Qualification	Flight Crew Flight Engineer Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 220 Flight Crew Total 11000 Flight Crew Type 6000
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Track / Heading All Types

Narrative:

Assigned a heading on departure. Climbed to 10000 ft on an assigned heading. We were then given normal speed and cleared to what we thought we heard as 'zelle' intersection. Apparently the controller cleared us to 'zelan' intersection. This was a communication error. We heard 'zelle' instead of 'zelan' and when the captain read it back the controller missed the mix up as well. The mistake was corrected and no separation problems occurred to my knowledge. We were re-cleared to 'summt' intersection and the flight went on as normal. I believe this kind of mistake could be minimized by not having fixes that are very close in spelling and sounding on the same arrivals and departures. I will be more alert to departures and arrivals with similar fixes on them in the future.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: After departing ATL; TRACON cleared an Air Carrier aircraft to ZELLE. The crew heard ZELAN but ATC did not correct the readback. After a track deviation ATC reissued a vector clearance. The reporter suggests nationally prohibiting similar sounding names on arrivals and departures.

Narrative: Assigned a heading on departure. Climbed to 10000 ft on an assigned heading. We were then given normal speed and cleared to what we thought we heard as 'ZELLE' intersection. Apparently the controller cleared us to 'ZELAN' intersection. This was a communication error. We heard 'ZELLE' instead of 'ZELAN' and when the Captain read it back the controller missed the mix up as well. The mistake was corrected and no separation problems occurred to my knowledge. We were re-cleared to 'SUMMT' intersection and the flight went on as normal. I believe this kind of mistake could be minimized by not having fixes that are very close in spelling and sounding on the same arrivals and departures. I will be more alert to departures and arrivals with similar fixes on them in the future.

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.

After departing atl; TRACON cleared an air carrier aircraft to zelle. The crew heard zelan but ATC did not correct the readback. After a track deviation ATC reissued a vector clearance. The reporter suggests nationally prohibiting similar sounding names on arrivals and departures.