Light Transport
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Situational Awareness; Confusion; Human-Machine Interface
Deviation - Track / Heading All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Clearance; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Air Traffic Control Issued New Clearance; Flight Crew Returned To Clearance
Human Factors; Procedure
While loading the flight plan out of ERI I loaded the wrong initial fix; instead of YARRK; I entered YAARK. YAARK is very similar in spelling and distance but it is to the east of ERI instead of the west. During climb-out we were given a right turn direct YARRK but we made a big right turn to the east towards YAARK. ATC asked where we were going; we realized something wasn't right and asked for a heading towards the correct fix and corrected our error. The flight continued safely without further incidence.The fixes are very similar in spelling and location; it is hard to recognize this error.
Departing out of ERI; the pilot inadvertently entered YAARK instead of YARRK into the flight plan; resulting in a heading deviation after takeoff.