Recently a widebody transport aircraft was enroute to Houston Intercontinental (KIAH) when the radios developed static that interfered with ATC instructions while holding near thunderstorms. Houston ATC directed the aircraft, using phonetics, to the Leona VOR, but the clearance understood by the crew was to the LEONA intersection. As the First Officer of the aircraft notes, this raises the question of why VORs even need names at all when modern flight management systems are in use.
We were placed in holding northeast of IAH. AUS was our alternate. There were thunderstorms and we were placed in high altitude holding. We were concerned about fuel and the Controller advised that the delay may be long enough to cause a divert to AUS. If we waited, we were advised that we would be sent to the other side of the field for a different arrival -- not specified. Eventually, a cell neared our holding location. We asked to be moved and while waiting, the static on the radios made hearing Center very difficult. Eventually, the Captain and I both heard the Controller phonetically spelling L-E-O-N-A. That is what the Captain even wrote on his scratch paper. I was typing that in the FMS and hit direct. We were on about a 210 degree heading when another aircraft relayed a new frequency to us. At some point there we also heard to join an arrival off of LEONA. We checked on with the new Controller who asked where we were going. We told him LEONA. He gave us a new heading to 270 degree and told us it was the LOA (LEONA) VOR and not the LEONA Intersection. This all happened very quickly, but there were several factors that could have changed what happened. 1) If it were possible (and I don't know if it was) to give us the name of the expected arrival from the other side of the airport, we would have already seen that there was a VOR named LEONA. 2) The Controller could have phonetically spelled the VOR ID and not the VOR name. This raises the question of why VORs even need names at all in an FMS environment. 3) We could have had faster situational awareness of the fact that an intersection 400 miles away was probably a misunderstanding. Luckily it was solved easily and quickly as we regained communication ability.
-
Source: FAA ASRS Database, ACN #830144
Posts
