1995-09 · NASA ASRS report 315779
HDG DEV IMPROPER FMGC PROGRAMMING.
ON DEP; RECEIVED CLRNC TO PROCEED DIRECT TO ALB; FLT PLANED RTE. FMGC HAD UNKNOWN POS DISCREPANCY; AND PROMPTED A TURN APPROX 90 DEGS PAST THE CORRECT HDG TO PROCEED DIRECTLY TO ALB. MONTREAL DEP INFORMED US THAT THE HDG WE WERE TURNING TO WOULD NOT TAKE US TO ALB AND GAVE US A TURN TO THE CORRECT HDG. AT THAT TIME; WE NOTED THE POS ERROR IN THE FMGC; AND COMPLETED THE REMAINDER OF THE FLT USING MANUAL NAVAID TUNING AND CHARTED COURSES. THERE WERE NO OTHER ACFT IN THE VICINITY WHEN THE DISCREPANCY OCCURRED; AND NO ACFT SAFETY WAS COMPROMISED. THESE EVENTS WERE PROCEEDED BY AN UNFAMILIARITY WITH THE FMGC REQUIREMENTS THAT IT HAVE ENTERED INTO IT A DEP AND DEST RWY. I HAVE ONLY BEEN CHKED OUT IN THE A320 FOR 3 MONTHS; AND UNTIL THIS FLT; ALL MY FLYING HAS BEEN WITHIN THE UNITED STATES. THE DATABASE FOR THE FMGC DID NOT INCLUDE THE MONTREAL DORVIL ARPT; AND IT WAS NECESSARY TO MANUALLY PROGRAM IN A WAYPOINT FOR THE ARPT. WE DID THAT SUCCESSFULLY; AND WAS ABLE TO COMPLETE THE INBOUND FLT UNEVENTFULLY. FOR THE LEG OUTBOUND; THE ACFT POS WAS MANUALLY ENTERED; VIA THE LATITUDE/LONGITUDE METHOD; AND THE POS WAS ACCEPTED. THIS FMGC HAS A PECULIARITY IN THAT WHEN THE THRUST LEVERS ARE ADVANCED FOR TKOF; IT WILL COMPUTE A POS UPDATE TO THE END OF THE SPECIFIED RWY; AND BEGIN ITS FURTHER COMPUTATIONS FROM THERE. WHAT I (WE) DID NOT KNOW IS THAT IF NO RWY HAS BEEN ENTERED (EVEN A PSEUDO RWY); AT THRUST APPLICATION; IT WILL SEARCH ITS DATABASE; AND SELECT THE CLOSEST RWY AVAILABLE. IN OUR CASE; IT APPARENTLY CHOSE CHICAGO MIDWAY; RWY 13C AS OUR DEP RWY; AND BUILT IN ITS BIAS FROM THAT POINT. FROM WHERE THE FMGC BELIEVED IT WAS; ALB WAS LOCATED ON AN APPROX COURSE OF 090 DEGS; RATHER THAN THE APPROX COURSE OF 200 DEGS FROM MONTREAL. I HAVE ALREADY DISCUSSED THIS SIT WITH OUR FLEET MGR; AND THE HEAD OF OUR TRAINING DEPT. PLACING ADDITIONAL EMPHASIS ON THIS FMGC'S PECULIARITY; AND ITS REQUIREMENT TO HAVE A RWY ENTERED WOULD HAVE DEFINITELY PREVENTED THIS OCCURRENCE. ALSO; HAD EITHER MY FO OR MYSELF HAD MORE EXPERIENCE IN THIS PARTICULAR ACFT; WE MIGHT HAVE AVOIDED THE SIT.
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Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.
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