A captain failed to recognize inaccurate VOR navigation information and turned early onto an airway....

Narrative:

After takeoff from swf; new york departure control assigned us an altitude of 6;000 ft MSL and a heading of 340 degrees to intercept and track inbound on the lhy VOR 078 degree radial toward weard intersection. My first officer informed me that he verified the identification of this navigation fix with a good strong accurate morse code. However; I noticed a brief intermittent navigation flag on my course indicator. The first officer's navigation display appeared normal; so shortly after beginning the turn to intercept this radial; ATC informed us we had turned 10 degree too early. Then they issued us a heading of 310 degrees with a climb to a higher altitude. During the climb; intermittent navigation flags and inaccurate course indications were present on both our HSI instruments. In addition there was no aural morse code being received on either navigation radio for this particular VOR. I then informed ATC of our inaccurate navigation information. Another pilot checked all navigation circuit breakers and verified they were in and not pulled. Other nearby vors were selected in the captain's navigation radio and they appeared normal both aurally and visually. After approximately 5 minutes all navigation indications seemed to return to normal for the lhy VOR station. There appeared to be no conflicts with any other traffic throughout this time. This happened since I did not follow standard procedures in questioning the accuracy of any navigation information when there appeared to be a conflict between two separate displays. This can be prevented by informing ATC when I have lost any primary navigation capabilities so that they can provide radar vectors or issue a new clearance to a different suitable navigation fix.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Captain failed to recognize inaccurate VOR navigation information and turned early onto an airway. ATC issued another vector until navigation information returned to normal.

Narrative: After takeoff from SWF; New York Departure Control assigned us an altitude of 6;000 FT MSL and a heading of 340 degrees to intercept and track inbound on the LHY VOR 078 degree radial toward WEARD Intersection. My First Officer informed me that he verified the identification of this navigation fix with a good strong accurate Morse code. However; I noticed a brief intermittent NAV flag on my course indicator. The First Officer's NAV display appeared normal; so shortly after beginning the turn to intercept this radial; ATC informed us we had turned 10 degree too early. Then they issued us a heading of 310 degrees with a climb to a higher altitude. During the climb; intermittent NAV flags and inaccurate course indications were present on both our HSI instruments. In addition there was no aural Morse code being received on either NAV radio for this particular VOR. I then informed ATC of our inaccurate navigation information. Another pilot checked all NAV circuit breakers and verified they were in and not pulled. Other nearby VORs were selected in the Captain's NAV radio and they appeared normal both aurally and visually. After approximately 5 minutes all NAV indications seemed to return to normal for the LHY VOR station. There appeared to be no conflicts with any other traffic throughout this time. This happened since I did not follow standard procedures in questioning the accuracy of any navigation information when there appeared to be a conflict between two separate displays. This can be prevented by informing ATC when I have lost any primary navigation capabilities so that they can provide radar vectors or issue a new clearance to a different suitable navigation fix.

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.

Attributes
ACN	925976
Time
Date	201012
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	SWF.Airport
State Reference	NY
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Large Transport
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Climb
Route In Use	Vectors Airway V106
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	ILS/VOR
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Flight Engineer Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Multiengine
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 150 Flight Crew Total 11500 Flight Crew Type 5000
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Track / Heading All Types

A captain failed to recognize inaccurate VOR navigation information and turned early onto an airway. ATC issued another vector until navigation information returned to normal.