Medium Transport; Low Wing; 2 Turbojet Eng
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Communication Breakdown; Training / Qualification; Human-Machine Interface; Confusion
ATC Issue All Types; Deviation - Track / Heading All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Clearance
Air Traffic Control Issued New Clearance; Air Traffic Control Issued Advisory / Alert; Flight Crew Became Reoriented
Chart Or Publication; Procedure
PDC clearance we received showed a minor change in routing compared to filed route listed in the Master document. Filed route showed: '...TYI.J79.JFK..DPK..MAD..HFD.GRAYM2.KBED' PDC clearance showed: '--ATC CLEARANCE--' 'TYI J79 SBY THEN AS FILED' For our filed route; J79 airway starting waypoint was TYI and ending at JFK. SBY is a VORTAC prior to JFK on the J79. The above clearance provided by PDC made me believe to join the J79 from TYI and jump at SBY then go direct to JFK. Upon review of our waypoint list; it showed that we would bypass (omit) the VILLS and JOANI waypoints. These waypoints exist on the J79 between SBY and JFK. We discussed this change in detail as a crew and programmed our FMS appropriately. Upon passing SBY and flying to JFK; ATC asked if we were flying the J79. We explained no based on our PDC clearance and asked if he wanted us to rejoin the J79. Controller decided to give us a HDG change for about 15- 20 miles then direct JFK. There was no discussion of a route violation from ATC. I suggest that PDC not indicate 'TYI J79 SBY THEN AS FILED' if the actual clearance was as filed (TYI J79 JFK).
In the future; I intend to scrutinize the routing in my turn/before start checklist more closely. I believe the other crew member and I came to the conclusion that we were going direct to JFK after SBY because it was noted in the PDC as a change in the routing; when in fact; the flight routing didn't change at all from the filed routing. I am very confident that the confusion would not have been an issue if our clearance read cleared as filed. The other crew member and I only became aware of the misunderstanding after ATC pointed the issue out to us.
A revised PDC was given which indicated TYI J79 SBY THEN AS FILED after the filed routing TYI JFK DPK MAD... so the crew omitted the VILLS and JOANI because they thought they were cleared SBY then JFK.