Date: 201209
Local time of day: 1201-1800
Location: RDG.Airport, PA
Flight conditions: Mixed
Weather elements / visibility: Turbulence; 10
Light: Daylight
Aircraft: Small Aircraft; Low Wing; 1 Eng; Fixed Gear
Operator: Personal
Operating under: Part 91
Flight plan: IFR
Mission: Training
Flight phase: Cruise
Airspace: Class E RDG
ATC / advisory: TRACON RDG
Aircraft component: GPS & Other Satellite Navigation
Component problem: Improperly Operated
Reporter organization: Personal
Reporter function: Pilot Flying
Reporter qualification: Flight Crew Commercial; Flight Crew Instrument
Human factors: Confusion; Human-Machine Interface; Situational Awareness
Anomaly: Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Deviation - Track / Heading All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Clearance
Detector: Person Air Traffic Control; Person Flight Crew
When detected: In-flight
Result: Air Traffic Control Issued New Clearance; Air Traffic Control Provided Assistance; Flight Crew Became Reoriented; Flight Crew Requested ATC Assistance / Clarification
Contributing factors: Human Factors; Procedure
Primary problem: Procedure

Narrative: We requested the RNAV 26 approach. We were cleared direct HEDED; a waypoint with which we were not familiar. Flight conditions were a broken cloud deck at our altitude with moderate chop; good VFR conditions below. [The aircraft was] equipped with an Avidyne Entegra flight deck and two Garmin GTN 650 touch screen navigators. We displayed the RNAV 26 approach on the MFD and it did not display HEDED nor was HEDED on the paper en route charts. We manually entered HEDED as the active waypoint. The MFD showed that we had just passed HEDED and we requested further instructions. However; the Controller advised that we were still approximately 10 miles to the north of HEDED and we advised that the MFD was clearly showing that we had passed HEDED. We advised the Controller and circled around in a right turn to intercept HEDED and the Controller inquired as to our intentions. We explained the discrepancy between the Controller's report of our position and the MFD clear depiction of HEDED almost at our then present position. The huge discrepancy caused us to be confused and in order to avoid a possibly dangerous situation we cancelled the RNAV 26 approach and requested a visual approach to LNS which was completed without problems. Once safely on the ground; we realized that HEDED had been entered as a user waypoint at our present position at the time of entry and that when the MFD displayed the approach chart; it had started up in a zoom configuration so that HEDED was off screen and not visible. The only depiction we had regarding the location of HEDED showed HEDED 10 miles to the north northeast of its actual position. We're not sure how HEDED was entered as a user waypoint (perhaps; in the turbulence; and the difficulty in using a touch screen that we accidentally created a user waypoint). However; the displayed misinformation confused two experienced instrument pilots. We feel that the data entry error coupled with the MFD approach chart depiction starting in a zoomed view rather than a standard view (so that the correct information which would have been at the extreme edge of the display was never presented) created a dangerous situation. The GPS navigator should never have accepted a user waypoint with the same spelling as a published designated waypoint. There were no [traffic] conflicts involved.




Synopsis: After discovering a large discrepancy between the GPS and the Controller's location of a fix; the pilots of an experimental aircraft cancelled the RNAV approach and flew a visual approach. Pilots later determined that they had accidentally entered the fix as a user waypoint at their current location.