A300 CREW HAD MAP SHIFT ON FLYING THE APCH AT MDPP. THE DME PORTION OF THE PTA VORTAC HAS BEEN OTS FOR AN EXTENDED PERIOD.

1999-07 · NASA ASRS report 443798

Date: 1999-07 · Aircraft: A300 · Phase: approach

Anomalies: other-pta-dme-out-of-service

Synopsis

A300 CREW HAD MAP SHIFT ON FLYING THE APCH AT MDPP. THE DME PORTION OF THE PTA VORTAC HAS BEEN OTS FOR AN EXTENDED PERIOD.

Narrative

MAP SHIFT -- SAFETY. ARRIVED AT POP AT AB00 LCL TIME. HAD BUILT AN APCH VOR RWY 26. ON OUTBOUND LEG; I NOTICED THE MAP AND THE RAW DATA DID NOT MATCH. WENT WITH RAW DATA. TURNED INBOUND AT WHAT I THOUGHT WAS 8 MI BASED ON THE FMC PROGRESS PAGE. AS A SIDE NOTE; THE DME IS OUT; AND HAS BEEN OUT FOR SOME TIME. ON FINAL; DSNDING; I FELT HIGH AND SAW WHITE OVER WHITE ON PAPI. AT THAT POINT I REALIZED WE WERE MUCH CLOSER THAN THE BOX INDICATED. MISSED APCH FOLLOWED WITH A TURN DOWNWIND AND A REALIZATION THAT A 4 MI MAP SHIFT HAD TAKEN PLACE. THE CONDITIONS WERE NO CLOUDS; BUT THE EVER-PRESENT HAZE WAS CAUSING PERCEPTION PROBS WITH RED OVER WHITE SHOWING AT 200 FT. A 'TERRAIN; TERRAIN; PULL UP' WARNING SOUNDED. WITH THE CONCRETE IN SIGHT AND BEING 100% SURE OF MY LOCATION; I ELECTED TO LAND. ON ROLLOUT; I NOTICED THE FIELD PICTURE 4 MI TO MY L AND MY ACFT SYMBOL LNDG IN THE WATER. ON THE WAY DOWN FROM NEW YORK; THE IRS COULD HAVE UPDATED AT GTK; PLS OR CDO. I DO NOT KNOW WHY WE HAD A MAP SHIFT. IN MY 4 1/2 YRS ON THE AIRBUS I HAVE NEVER SEEN THIS. ALSO; WITH NO DME AT POP; NO PAPI ON RWY 8; AND THE POSSIBILITY OF ANOTHER MAP SHIFT; I BELIEVE THIS IS A DANGEROUS OP. I HAVE BEEN TO POP MANY TIMES IN MY 13 YRS WITH THE ACR. I FEAR A NEW CAPT WITH A NEW HIRE FO AT AB30-AC00 LCL TIME COULD FIND THEMSELVES WITH MORE THAN THEY CAN HANDLE. THIS PLACE IS AN ACCIDENT IN SEARCH OF A CREW. I RECOMMEND WE SUSPEND NIGHT OPS INTO POP UNTIL THE DME IS FIXED OR THE PAPI'S ARE FIXED AND CALIBRATED FOR BOTH RWYS. PLEASE CALL ME IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS. SUPPLEMENTAL INFO FROM ACN 443804: I ACCOMPLISHED PREFLT INCLUDING FULL ALIGNMENT OF IRU'S TO GATE CO-ORD. FLT PATH FOR MOST OF TRIP APPEARED NORMAL. OUR ACFT ALIGNED ALMOST PERFECTLY WITH OTHER FMS ACFT ON THE AIRWAY. ON ARR; I BRIEFED VOR RWY 26 APCH. I BUILT THIS APCH IN THE FOLLOWING MANNER BECAUSE THE DATABASE APCH IS THE VOR/DME UTILIZING ARC TRANSITION. FIRST I BUILT THE COURSE REVERSAL. THEN I BUILT PTA 063 DEG RADIAL 8 DME THEN PTA 083 DEG RADIAL 8.0 DME FOLLOWED BY PTA AND THEN INSERTED THE MAP. WX IN THE AREA WAS FAIR VFR. NO RESTR TO VISIBILITY. CONFIGURED ACFT TO FLAPS 20 DEGS; 180 KTS. COMPLETED A COURSE REVERSAL. MY PLAN WAS TO GO OUTBOUND DSNDING TO 2300 FT. ONCE PASSING 8 MI INBOUND I WAS GOING TO SET VERT SPD 700 DOWN; INTERCEPT PAPI AND LAND. I WAS PLANNING USING MAP MODE AND ASKED CAPT (PNF) TO STAY IN RAW DATA. AFTER COMPLETING A COURSE REVERSAL IT BECAME OBVIOUS SOMETHING WAS INCORRECT WITH MAP DISPLAY. I WAS SHOWING MYSELF SLIGHTLY N OF COURSE WHILE RMI AND CAS RAW DATA SHOWED S. IMMEDIATELY REVERTED TO RAW DATA. WE ASSUMED I (DESPITE TRIPLECHKING AMONGST OURSELVES) HAD ENTERED THE WAYPOINTS INCORRECTLY. WHILE USING RAW WE REFERRED TO THE FMS BRG/DISTANCE ON THE PROGRESS PAGE AS THE DME WAS INOP. WHEN TURNED AROUND AND ESTABLISHED; I STARTED DOWN AT 700 FPM. WE BROKE OUT AND APPEARED VERY HIGH. I THOUGHT WE COULD WORK IT OUT; BUT AFTER CONTINUING A LITTLE LONGER (1000 FT AFL) CAPT TOLD ME TO GO AROUND; WHICH WAS A GOOD CALL ON HIS PART. WE WERE THEN CLRED FOR A VISUAL AND I WENT TO 1500 FT N OF THE FIELD AND ENTERED A R DOWNWIND FOR RWY 26; THEN INTERCEPTED PAPI AND FLEW 1 RED OVER 3 WHITE. AT APPROX 200 FT WITH LNDG LIGHTS ILLUMINATING RWY AND OCEAN ONLY; THE GPWS WENT NUTS. IT SAID 'TOO LOW TERRAIN; TERRAIN;' ETC AND SCARED THE BEEZGEEBERS OUT OF US. SINCE WE COULD SEE NO OBSTACLES AND THE RWY WAS IN PLAIN SIGHT UNDER VFR; WE LANDED. I DID; HOWEVER; INSTINCTIVELY ADD PWR AND FLATTEN OUT THE APCH. WE COMPLETED A NORMAL; ALBEIT SLIGHTLY LONG; LNDG -- ALL WITH THE GPWS SOUNDING. AFTER LNDG; WE WENT BACK INTO MAP MODE SUSPECTING A MAP SHIFT. THE MAP SHOWED US APPROX 4 MI N OF THE RWY. AT THIS POINT IT ALL BECAME CLR. THE FIRST APCH WAS HIGH BECAUSE I WAS USING DISTANCE TO THE RWY INFO WHICH WAS ERRONEOUS. AT FIRST I THOUGHT I HAD SCREWED UP THE APCH. I HAVE NEVER CAUSED A GAR AT MY ACR DUE TO POOR FLYING TECHNIQUE AND WAS EMBARRASSED TO HAVE BEEN SO HIGH. I BELIEVE THIS IS WHY I WAS TRYING TO MAKE THE FIRST APCH WORK. IN RETROSPECT; I WOULD NOT HAVE DONE THIS AND AM GLAD THE CAPT CALLED GAR WHEN HE DID. WE OBVIOUSLY STARTED DOWN MUCH CLOSER TO THE RWY THAN INDICATED. I USUALLY DO NON PRECISIONS IN ARC OR ROSE BUT DUE TO THE HR (AB00) I WANTED TO JUST FOLLOW THE LITTLE WHITE LINE WITH CONSTRAINTS DISPLAYED. ON THE A300 AND B767; I HAVE FOUND POP AT NIGHT TO BE THE MOST CHALLENGING OF ALL THESE OPS GIVEN THE UNRELIABILITY OF MUCH OF THE GND BASED EQUIP. I BELIEVE THE LATEST MESSAGE REGARDING USING THE FMC FOR HELP IN COMPLETING THE CIRCLING APCH SHOULD BE RESCINDED. I HAVE FLOWN TO UIO; LPB; TGU; CLO; SJO; ON B767 ACFT AND A300'S AND I HAVE FOUND POP AT NIGHT TO BE THE MOST CHALLENGING OF ALL THESE OPS GIVEN THE UNRELIABILITY OF THE GND BASED EQUIP. I BELIEVE THE LATEST REGARDING BUILDING A POINT IN THE FMS TO AID IN COMPLETION OF THE CIRCLING APCH SHOULD BE RESCINDED UNTIL THE PTA DME IS AGAIN OPERATIONAL. AS I INDICATED IN A LETTER AFTER MY TRIP BEFORE THIS ONE; I BELIEVE THE ACR SHOULD CAREFULLY CONSIDER WHETHER IT SHOULD CONTINUE NIGHT CIRCLING APCHS WITHOUT SOME VERT GUIDANCE TO RWY 8 AND MOREOVER CONSIDER WHETHER NIGHT OPS INTO POP ARE PRUDENT WITH THE DME INOP. HAD WE HAD DME LAST WK'S TRIP AND THIS LATEST ONE; IT WOULD HAVE BEEN MUCH LESS EXCITING. I THINK THE PAPI ALSO NEEDS TO BE CALIBRATED TO ENSURE IT IS ACCURATE. IF YOU DON'T HAVE ANYONE I WOULD BE HAPPY TO GO TO POP AND EXPLAIN IT TO THE FOLKS DOWN THERE ON BEHALF OF THE PLTS. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR ACN 443798 REVEALED THE FOLLOWING INFO: THE CAPT HAS NOW FLOWN TO MDPP FOR 2 MONTHS. THE DME AT PTA VORTAC IS STILL OTS. THE CAPT FEELS THE ENTIRE PROB IS CAUSED BY THE INOP DME. THIS COMES AT THE END OF A VERY LONG DUTY DAY 'IN EXCESS OF 12 HRS' AND ON THE BACK SIDE OF THE CLOCK. HE MENTIONED CREW FATIGUE DEFINITELY WAS A FACTOR. THE FMC DATABASE IN THE ACFT ONLY HAS THE VOR DME RWY 26 APCH. THE VOR RWY 26 APCH MUST BE HAND BUILT. THE CAPT DEFINITELY FEELS THAT NIGHTTIME OPS AT THE ARPT SHOULD BE SUSPENDED UNTIL THE DME CAN BE RETURNED TO SVC.

Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.

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