Large Transport
Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 1.5
Distraction; Confusion; Communication Breakdown; Situational Awareness
ATC Issue All Types; Deviation - Track / Heading All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Clearance
Air Traffic Control Issued New Clearance; Air Traffic Control Provided Assistance; Flight Crew Returned To Clearance
Chart Or Publication; Procedure; Human Factors
Aircraft X checked in climbing to 14;000 feet on a 017-heading. The heading was unreadable to me. RADAR controller cleared to climb; he was pointed out to sector 47 already. The pilot checked back and made a correction to the initial heading he gave us; he said instead he was on a 180 heading. The RADAR controller acknowledged and cleared the aircraft direct BUZRD; on course. Aircraft read back and verified what sounded to us as BUZRD. Shortly I noticed the aircraft was making a sharp right turn into sector 47's airspace. I notified the sector 18 RADAR controller immediately and initiated a call them with sector 47 RADAR controller. I initiated a point out as I didn't know what the aircraft was doing; heard the sector 18 RADAR controller issue a left turn which I passed along to 47; and the sector 47 RADAR controller stopped his traffic at 16;000 feet. After that call; we quizzed the pilot as to what had happened. He advised us that he was cleared via the BLZZR3 SID; while we showed him cleared via the SSOXS4 departure. Once we verified his routing; we got him back on course. It turns out the flight plan the aircraft showed as issued and what the pilot had in front of him were two different things. The pilot says he was cleared on the BLZZR3; and he was reading back direct BLZZR. To us; the aircraft would have no reason to read back BLZZR; it's not on the SSOXS4 departure and it sounded to me like an odd pronunciation of BUZRD. Also note that it seemed that the co-pilot and pilot were sharing radio responsibilities and I remember hearing two distinct voices reading back at different times.The Controller in Charge (CIC) happened to be there to observe the whole event and he took over the situation of discovering what happened with the routing.Change BUZRD fix to something not similar to other departure fixes; in this case BLZZR. This should never be an issue if the aircraft's routing is correct; but they sound very similar and this is now a confirmed issue.
ZBW controller reported of a similar sounding fix that the pilot had entered and was flying towards. Aircraft was questioned and the confusion of the fix name was determined to be part of the problem. ATC had one clearance the crew had a different one.