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Air carrier captain laments his company's computer flight plan and the poor communication capability above 80N.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1007527 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201204 |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | Commercial Fixed Wing |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
| Flight Phase | Parked |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Captain Pilot Not Flying |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) |
| Experience | Flight Crew Last 90 Days 240 Flight Crew Total 22500 Flight Crew Type 5500 |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural FAR |
Narrative:
Many separate problems with the flight plan. First it arrived 23 minutes late. I call the dispatcher and noticed rlse 02 and he said 'ZFW went down and redispatch plan wouldn't take in the computer; so I guess your still on 5%.' I was confused and asked him to send it to me; then once I saw it maybe I could figure out what he was talking about and that was another 6 minutes then the printer failed. Once airborne we lost data link around 80N and I attempted probably 15 times over the next 90 minute to contact any ldoc [long distance operational control] or commercial radio facility printed on the arctic/polar chart but never a response. I did send a full position report with fuel and asked gander on HF to send to the company at neutr but after that lost them; but got magadan ok at nalim but no data link comm until just short of kubon. We did comply with the 90 minute reporting on the 5% operations specification B343 but can't prove it and dispatch claims they never received the neutr report from gander. The dispatcher said he was filing a report and told of us of all the shortcomings in the computer system and I concur that we should no longer dispatch above 80N on the 5% because it's very difficult to comply since ldoc is about 50/50 over many years of trying.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: Air Carrier Captain laments his company's computer flight plan and the poor communication capability above 80N.
Narrative: Many separate problems with the Flight Plan. First it arrived 23 minutes late. I call the Dispatcher and noticed RLSE 02 and he said 'ZFW went down and redispatch plan wouldn't take in the computer; so I guess your still on 5%.' I was confused and asked him to send it to me; then once I saw it maybe I could figure out what he was talking about and that was another 6 minutes then the printer failed. Once airborne we lost data link around 80N and I attempted probably 15 times over the next 90 minute to contact any LDOC [Long Distance Operational Control] or Commercial Radio facility printed on the Arctic/Polar chart but never a response. I did send a full position report with FUEL and asked GANDER on HF to send to the company at NEUTR but after that lost them; but got Magadan OK at NALIM but no data link comm until just short of KUBON. We did comply with the 90 minute reporting on the 5% OPS SPEC B343 but can't prove it and Dispatch claims they never received the NEUTR report from Gander. The Dispatcher said he was filing a report and told of us of all the shortcomings in the computer system and I concur that we should no longer dispatch above 80N on the 5% because it's very difficult to comply since LDOC is about 50/50 over many years of trying.
Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.