Small Transport
Time Pressure; Workload; Confusion; Distraction; Fatigue; Situational Awareness
Deviation - Track / Heading All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Clearance; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Air Traffic Control Issued Advisory / Alert; Air Traffic Control Issued New Clearance; Flight Crew Returned To Clearance
Human Factors
I departed runway 29L from FAT to reposition equipment under an IFR flight plan using the FRESNO EIGHT DEPARTURE; FRES8.FRA. On handoff to departure control; I was told to proceed direct to the first fix on my clearance; FRAME intersection. During pre-flight I had inadvertently set up FRIANT VOR (FRA) instead of FRAME as my first fix. I had forgotten the location of FRAME to the west and had not taken the time to verify its location. The controller; to the best of my memory; did not assign a direction of turn toward FRAME nor did he give a radar vector (heading) to follow to establish a firm direction; but simply said to proceed 'direct to FRAME'. Using the 'direct to' function of my Garmin 530 navigation radio; I saw what I thought was FRAME to my right and turned right toward it. This put me in potential conflict with aircraft departing from 29R; but I assumed departure control [would notify me] of any traffic. Fortunately there were no traffic departing from 29R at that time. After 30 seconds or so the controller queried my right turn. Still thinking FRA was FRAME; I told him I was going 'direct FRAME'. He told me that FRAME was to my left and gave me a left vector toward the northwest; but then changed his mind back to a right turn to the southeast. After that he cleared me present position direct to SHAFTER VOR (EHF). A few minutes after that; a second controller came on and asked if I had time to answer a question. He asked me how I had gone the wrong direction; and if I had put the wrong information in my navigation device. I told him I mistook FRIANT VOR for FRAME INTERSECTION on initial setup of my nav equipment. I then asked him if there was going to be a problem and he replied to 'just be more careful next time'. That was all that was said regarding the incident. I was aware I had done something wrong when the controller asked me why I had turned right instead of left. Then he told me the location of FRAME was to my left. I finally realized that FRA was not FRAME.My day started typically early at XA:00 AM. My showtime was at XB:05 AM. I took off on my scheduled flight at XB:53; arriving XC:49. I called in my times at XC:52. I had been having problems with the fuel gauges on my plane and been in contact about the issue with maintenance. I called maintenance at XC:57 AM to report some numbers we were using to find what the fuel problem could be. I was told they would let me know what to do next; so I went to the hotel thinking it would be a normal day.During my breakfast I received a call from maintenance that I would be needed to fuel the airplane to a known quantity by watching the fueler and using a measuring stick to verify exact quantity. I finished breakfast and went back out to the airport to order fuel and watch the fueling closely; which I did. The decision after calling back was to move the plane up to Fresno for them to work on it and to swap into another plane. I did this arriving in Fresno at exactly XI:00; a 2.3 hour trip. I then used the bathroom; filed an IFR fight plan using my phone's flight planning app; swapped airplanes; and did the pre-flight on the new plane. In the aircraft; I received my clearance to use the FRESNO8 departure; FRAME; EHF VOR (SHAFTER); then as filed. I then set up my nav radio to use the pre-loaded FRESNO8 departure. From runway 29L it had the FRA fix and I loaded it; thinking it was the VOR and not the FRAME intersection in spite of knowing quite well the difference. I was under a time constraint and had sweat running down my face from the heat in the cockpit. At this time; I should have either just put FRAME in as a fix; or at least verified its location on the IFR enroute chart. This was the main mistake that set up the others. I started up and taxied out at XJ:05. At this time; I had been up for 9 hours and at work for 8. My scheduled show time back at the original airport was XL:22 and it was over 2 hours away so I had a time constraint. I arrived and blockedin at XL:18; only 4 minutes prior to my showtime for the evening leg.
Small transport pilot inadvertently loaded FRA instead of FRAME into their GPS for the FAT FRESNO.8 Departure and turned the wrong way when cleared direct.