B767-300 Captain expressed concern prior to departure that aircraft's navigation data base would expire when outside of country where an update would not be able to be loaded. Crew accepted aircraft in this condition but expressed frustration at missing waypoints on some procedures and perceived inaccuracy of some entered coordinates after data base actually expired.
Synopsis
B767-300 Captain expressed concern prior to departure that aircraft's navigation data base would expire when outside of country where an update would not be able to be loaded. Crew accepted aircraft in this condition but expressed frustration at missing waypoints on some procedures and perceived inaccuracy of some entered coordinates after data base actually expired.
Narrative
At ZZZ on Day 0 I noticed that the Nav Data Base was going to expire while the plane was operating. I brought this to the attention of maintenance; the reply was ' a data loader problem'. Not the first time I have heard this excuse. I inquired either in ZZZ or ZZZ1 whether or not the DB could be updated there and the response was we don't can carry a data loader with us. So we were dispatched out of a maintenance base with an expiring Nav Data Base on an International flight (s).On Day 2 we started the process of verifying the waypoint Lat/Longs per out procedures and ran across an issue with 180 E/W. The flight plan reflected 180E the FMS reflected 180W. We attempted to change the 180W to 180E however the FMS would not allow it. We built E179.59.9 which in theory should be on top 180E/W but what ever reason created a zig zag when preforming a waypoint step check in the FMS. See attached photos. This was a PAC 1 route and filed as such so myself and the crew felt it necessary to eliminate 180E/W from the flight plan all together. Additionally the arrival ZZZZZ landing South which was also on the flight plan was missing two waypoints; ZZZZZ1 and ZZZZZ2. Closing in the Pre-Departure Service Check expiration time and runway closures (ETOPS); Four flight plans packets later and ream of paper gone we finally got a flight plan and the FMS to match. This exercise was extremely irritating for Me; the entire Crew and the Dispatcher who was at the end of his shift. In my opinion there is no excuse why we should be dealing with avoidable issues like this on international flights. Airplane released into international service with Nav Data Base expiring in two days.
More incidents for this aircraft family →
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.