Large Transport; Low Wing; 2 Turbojet Eng
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 84
Communication Breakdown; Confusion; Training / Qualification
ATC Issue All Types; Deviation - Track / Heading All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Clearance
Air Traffic Control Issued Advisory / Alert; Air Traffic Control Issued New Clearance; Flight Crew Became Reoriented; Flight Crew Returned To Clearance
Airspace Structure; Human Factors
On departure climbing out of MDW; Departure cleared us direct BACEN. I was the Pilot Not Flying and inserted BEKKI thinking it was what the Controller was saying. The Captain did not catch my mistake and we were handed off to Center. They asked where we are cleared to and I said BACEN and realized my mistake. Then Controller wanted us to go direct BACEN. I am new to MDW flying and that was a lot of the problem. The other issue is BACEN does not look like 'BACON' to me and we had three waypoints in a row that all started with the letter B. It was mainly my lack of experience that caused this deviation and a little miscommunication.
After departing MDW a crew was cleared direct BACEN but heard BEKKI which was inserted in the FMS and being flown to. ATC questioned the track deviation then recleared the flight to BACEN.