A CORPORATE PILOT SUGGESTS INCLUDING SATELLITE AIRPORT SID'S AND STAR'S IN FMS DATABASES WHEN THE SAME PROCEDURES MAY CURRENTLY ONLY BE INCLUDED FOR NEARBY PRIMARY AIRPORTS.

Date: 2008-09

Anomalies: other-fms-database

Synopsis

A CORPORATE PILOT SUGGESTS INCLUDING SATELLITE AIRPORT SID'S AND STAR'S IN FMS DATABASES WHEN THE SAME PROCEDURES MAY CURRENTLY ONLY BE INCLUDED FOR NEARBY PRIMARY AIRPORTS.

Narrative

THERE ARE SEVERAL ARRS AND DEPS TO VARIOUS ARPTS GIVEN OUT BY ATC THAT ARE NOT IN THE EXPECTED ARPT SECTION. OFTEN THIS OCCURS JUST BEFORE ENG START; OR JUST AS DSCNT IS STARTED; CAUSING MUCH CONFUSION AND CONSTERNATION IN THE COCKPIT. SOME EXAMPLES: WHILE APCHING THE OXC ARPT; WE WERE GIVEN A BRIDGEPORT ARR. THERE IS NO SUCH ARR CONTAINED IN THE OXC CHARTS. AN EXTENDED DISCUSSION WITH THE CTLR; THUS TYING UP THE AIRWAVES; WAS OF NO HELP. HE INSISTED THAT THERE WAS A BRIDGEPORT ARR TO OXFORD. FINALLY; IT OCCURRED TO ME TO LOOK IN THE BRIDGEPORT CHARTS; AND SURE ENOUGH; THERE IT WAS. BUT THAT ENTAILED DIGGING THE MANUAL OUT OF THE COCKPIT FLOOR AND FINDING THE ARPT -- NOT SOMETHING YOU WANT TO DO ON APCH. ALSO; SINCE THE APCH WAS NOT IN THE DATABASE FOR OXFORD; WE HAD TO BUILD IT -- MORE HEAD DOWN TIME IN THE COCKPIT. ONE WOULD NOT NORMALLY GET OUT THE APCH PLATES FOR BRIDGEPORT IF YOU WERE GOING TO OXFORD. WHILE GOING FROM ASPEN TO DENVER CENTENNIAL; WE WERE FLYING IN MOUNTAINOUS TERRAIN; IN BAD WX; AND ON A SHORT LEG. WE WERE GIVEN A LARKS5 ARR. THERE IS NO LARKS5 ARR IN THE CENTENNIAL PLATES. THIS CREATED A GREAT DEAL OF CONFUSION AT A TIME WHEN WE DID NOT NEED IT. I FINALLY FOUND THE ARR IN THE DENVER INTL ARPT PLATES. AND THEN; I HAD TO BUILD THE ARR IN THE FMS. I WAS COMPLETELY OUT OF THE FLYING LOOP FOR A CONSIDERABLE AMOUNT OF TIME. ON DEP FROM CENTENNIAL; WE WERE CLRED FOR THE PLAINS4 DEP. AGAIN; THERE WAS NO SUCH DEP FROM CENTENNIAL. BUT HAVING LEARNED FROM MY INBOUND EXPERIENCE; I FOUND THE CHART IN THE DENVER INTL CHARTS. AGAIN; I HAD TO BUILD THE DEP IN THE FMS; SINCE THERE IS NO SUCH DEP ASSOCIATED WITH CENTENNIAL THERE. IF ATC IS GOING TO CONSISTENTLY GIVE CERTAIN ARRS AND DEPS FOR PARTICULAR ARPTS; THEN ALL OF THE CHARTS FOR THAT ARPT SHOULD BE WITH THE REST OF THE CHARTS FOR THAT ARPT. ANOTHER PROB COMING OUT OF ASPEN IS THAT YOU ARE OFTEN GIVEN THE DBL 093 DEG RADIAL TO MURFE INTXN; THEN THE LARKS5 ARR. IF YOU LOOK AT THE CHART; IT DOES NOT APPEAR THAT THE DBL 093 DEG RADIAL GOES TO MURFE. UPON CLOSER INSPECTION; IT APPEARS THAT THE R OF THE CHART IS OFFSET S; AND THIS MAY BE THE CAUSE OF THE CONFUSION. AS LONG AS ATC IS GOING TO REGULARLY GIVE THAT CLRNC; MURFE SHOULD LINE UP WITH THE DBL 093 DEG RADIAL ON THE CHART. I AM SORRY THAT I CAN'T BE MORE SPECIFIC ABOUT THIS; BUT THERE IS MUCH CONFUSION WHEN TRYING TO MAKE AN APCH TO ASPEN -- A PLACE WHERE NO CONFUSION SHOULD EVER EXIST. THERE IS A LOC DME APCH; AND A VOR/DME OR GPS-C APCH. FOR ONE APCH; WE HAVE THE APCH PLATES; BUT IT IS NOT IN THE FMS DATABASE. FOR THE OTHER; IT IS IN OUR FMS DATABASE; BUT WE HAVE NO APCH PLATES FOR IT. NOW WE ARE FACED WITH EITHER BUILDING AN APCH FROM THE APCH PLATE; (WHICH OUR COMPANY PROHIBITS); OR FLYING AN APCH FROM THE FMS INTO A MOUNTAINOUS ARPT WITH NO PAPER APCH CHARTS. THESE ARE BOTH BAD CHOICES; AND THE PROB NEEDS TO BE FIXED.

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