MD-83
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Flight Crew Total 15400
Communication Breakdown; Human-Machine Interface; Distraction
Deviation - Track / Heading All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Clearance
Air Traffic Control Issued New Clearance; Air Traffic Control Issued Advisory / Alert; Flight Crew Became Reoriented; Flight Crew Returned To Clearance
Human Factors; Procedure
This event began at the gate at ORD.  My FO; who has less than 150 hours on the DC-9; had loaded the FMS. While checking our route; we discovered several problems; with points repeating themselves; etc. I elected to reload the route; asking him to read me the clearance and observe. He read me the clearance; and spelled the waypoints for me as I loaded the FMS. During this process I incorrectly entered the waypoint 'ADIME' as 'ADINE'.  I read the route and legs verbally to the FO when I completed loading the FMS; I do not know if i articulated 'ADIME' as 'ADINE'; but in any event; we didn't catch my error. As I read the total distance on the progress page; we were interupted by the gate agent. After speaking with her; we continued the checklist without ever actually comparing the total distance on the flight plan to the progress page. Doing so might've precluded this event. During climbout; we were given direct to MOBLE; on course. As we approached MOBLE; I was heads down; checking to insure that we could make our filed altitude. My map mode was still in 10 mile range. At MOBLE; we began turning longer than I expected. I put my map mode on a larger scale. Usually; MOBLE; ADIME; and GERBS intersections form a straight line; but I could see that they didn't on larger scale map mode. As I realized there was a problem; ATC asked where we were turning: I replied that we had a problem with our FMS; and asked for a vector back on course; which ATC provided. I then told the Controller that we had incorrectly loaded 'ADINE' into our FMS instead of 'ADIME'--he replied that it had happened to other aircraft before. We then continued to ADIME without further incident. On the ground; I contacted ATC; as requested; and was advised that while no loss of separation had occured; they would be forwarding a report of this incident 'up the chain'.  First and foremost; I shouldn't have allowed an interuption of the checklist by the gate agent to distract me from ensuring a comparison of total distance on the progress page with flight plan total distance. Also; if I had increased the scale of my map mode sooner; I might've caught my programming error. Internationally; we compare courses in the FMS to courses on the flight plan; and while this isn't required domestically; comparing the course between MOBLE and ADIME would've disclosed a problem as well.
MD80 Captain reports entering the flight plan waypoint ADIME as ADINE which goes undetected until turning toward the incorrect waypoint.