WDB FLT CREW SUFFERS BOTH ALT AND TRACK DEVS WHEN THE NEW MANUFACTURER DATABASE PROVES A DISTR AND ALSO FAILS TO CAPTURE A 'HDG TO A COURSE' TRANSITION ON THE ST JOHN'S DEP FROM PHX.

Date: 2006-10 · Aircraft: Widebody Transport · Phase: initial_climb

Anomalies: aircraft-equipment-problem-critical|deviation-altitude-undershoot|deviation-track-heading-all-types|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-clearance|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-published-material-policy

Synopsis

WDB FLT CREW SUFFERS BOTH ALT AND TRACK DEVS WHEN THE NEW MANUFACTURER DATABASE PROVES A DISTR AND ALSO FAILS TO CAPTURE A 'HDG TO A COURSE' TRANSITION ON THE ST JOHN'S DEP FROM PHX.

Narrative

WE HAVE JUST SWITCHED FROM COMMERCIAL CHART #1 TO COMMERCIAL CHART #2 PRODUCTS. THE FMS DATABASE HAD JUST BEEN CHANGED TO COMMERCIAL CHART #2 IN THE PAST WK. PREFLT AND PLANNING WENT NORMAL. CAPT LOADED FLT PLAN INTO FMS. FLT PLAN HAD CHEZZ2 DEP. WE RECEIVED PDC AND IT HAD AMENDED ROUTING; CHANGED TO MAXXO1 DEP. CAPT RELOADED NEW ROUTING AND WE VERIFIED IT AND BRIEFED IT. START AND INITIAL TAXI WERE NORMAL. UPON LEAVING RAMP; PHX GND INSTRUCTED US TO CONTACT CLRNC DELIVERY FOR A RERTE. THE NEW RTE 1 DEP WAS ST JOHN'S SID 3 TO ST JOHN'S SID J-74 IRW LIT. CAPT STOPPED ACFT AND LOADED THE NEW ROUTING. WE VERIFIED IT. DUE TO BEING ON ACTIVE TXWY WE WERE BUSY AND DEP BRIEF WAS (IN HINDSIGHT) NOT AS THOROUGH AS IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN. THE WX IN PHX THAT MORNING WAS POOR. IT WAS GUSTY; RAINING AND THERE WERE TSTMS IN ALL QUADRANTS. SEVERAL WINDSHEAR RPTS FROM ARRIVING ACFT. WE TOOK ACTIVE RWY FOR TKOF (PHX RWY 7L). CAPT AND I COMMENTED ON RADAR RETURNS AND POSSIBLE DEV ROUTING. TKOF WAS NORMAL; CAPT ENGAGED AUTOPLT; 'NAV AND PROF' AT 500 FT AGL. ST JOHN'S SID 3 IS A 'NAV' DEP. TWR INSTRUCTED US TO KEEP A B737 IN SIGHT AND CONTACT DEP ON 119.2 (A DIFFERENT FREQ). CAPT WAS LOOKING AT WX ON RADAR. I CHKED IN WITH DEP AND CTLR SAID 'CLB TO FL210.' ST JOHN'S SID 3 HAS AN INITIAL CLB LIMIT OF 7000 FT. CAPT SET FL210 IN ALT WINDOW; I VERIFIED IT. (HINDSIGHT I FORGOT TO CLR THE 'HARD 7000' OUT OF THE FMS; AS I WAS DISTR BY LOOKING AT WX RETURNS ON RADAR AND PERFORMING AFTER TKOF CHKLIST.) BECAUSE I DIDN'T CLR THE 'HARD 7000' THE ACFT DID NOT INITIATE A CLB PAST 7000 FT. AT THIS TIME ACFT HAD NAV'ED PROPERLY AND WE WERE ON A 045 DEG MAGNETIC HDG. THE COMMERCIAL CHART #2 FMS DISPLAY WAS DIFFERENT THAN THE COMMERCIAL CHART #1 DISPLAY WE WERE BOTH USED TO. WE WERE BOTH QUESTIONING THE DIFFERENT DISPLAY. I COMMENTED 'SOMETHING DOESN'T LOOK QUITE RIGHT.' ABOUT THIS TIME DEP CTL ASKED 'ARE YOU CLBING TO FL210?' WE BOTH RECOGNIZED THE PROB AND CAPT PERFORMED AN FCP CLB. BACK TO THE NAV PROB. THE ACFT SHOULD HAVE INTERCEPTED THE PXR 054 DEG RADIAL TO FORPE. IT DID NOT. WE FLEW THROUGH IT ON A 045 DEG HDG. WE MISSED IT BECAUSE OF PREVIOUSLY MENTIONED DISTRS. WE CORRECTED OUR HDG TO JOIN; BUT DEP ASKED US WHAT WE WERE DOING. BOTTOM LINE: NEW FMS DATABASE HAS ERRORS; BUT A MORE DETAILED DEP BRIEF PROBABLY WOULD HAVE ENSURED WE CAUGHT THE NAV ERROR EARLIER. NEVER RUSH!

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