NASA · Aviation Safety Reporting System
Air carrier Captain reported similar sounding fixes on the AMA RNP Z 22 approach, PULBE and TELVE, which caused a clearance and heading deviation.
What is ASRS?
The Aviation Safety Reporting System is NASA's voluntary, confidential, non- punitive incident-reporting system, established 1976. Pilots, controllers, dispatchers, and maintenance technicians file reports describing safety- relevant events. NASA de-identifies every report before adding it to the public database. Reports are not investigated by NASA, the FAA, or the NTSB — they represent the reporter's perspective.
Pilot narrative
Verbatim from the de-identified NASA record. First-person account by the
reporter. NASA strips identifying details (names, company, specific time);
anonymization placeholders are ZZZ,
X, Y.
On arrival to AMA, PF (Pilot Flying) requested the RNP Z 22. Approach Control cleared us to fly the approach with the initial fix ZATRO. PF had FMS loaded with the initial fix PULBE. PF had PM (Pilot Monitoring) request initial fix PULBE. ATC then cleared us initial fix TELVE. Similar sounding and we couldn't decipher the difference between "TELVE" and "PULBE" over the radio and proceeded to initial fix PULBE. ATC queried us approximately five miles before PULBE and indicated we weren't heading to TELVE. That's when the miscommunication was discovered, and ATC allowed us to continue the approach via PULBE. The rest of approach and landing were uneventful. RNAV/RNP Approaches should not have similar sounding initial fixes.
NASA classification — Anomalies
- ATC Issue
- Deviation - Track / Heading
- Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural
NASA classification — Assessments
- Contributing Factors / Situations
- Airspace Structure · Software and Automation · Chart Or Publication
- Primary Problem
- Airspace Structure
ASRS reports are voluntarily submitted, de-identified by NASA, and represent the reporter's perspective. The presence of reports on a topic cannot be used to infer prevalence in the National Airspace System. The authoritative source is the NASA ASRS Database Online at asrs.arc.nasa.gov ↗.