The pilot of a dhc 8-100 was advised that the fleet's navigation database expiration date had gone u...

Narrative:

I operated two flights without realizing our RNAV database was expired. I did not realize until we were contacted by dispatch; post-flight going on to our 3rd leg; and told to MEL the navigation unit. We were told to call dispatch who told us that the database was expired; fleet wide in the DH8 fleet. Maintenance missed the navigation database update and the flight crew failed to verify it. Also; with only having 1 RNAV unit in the aircraft and it being located right next to the captain; first officers usually feel left out of the loop. Since it is next to the captain they are nearly always initializing it; programming it; etc. I never even had a chance to see the expired database during the initialization process because the captain had already set up the unit while I was performing my preflight inspection duties. The navigation unit was MEL'd and we conducted the return flight without RNAV capability. Dispatch and/or maintenance should have some type of alert that the RNAV database has expired. In fact; the alert should occur a day or two before the database will actually expire.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: The pilot of a DHC 8-100 was advised that the fleet's navigation database expiration date had gone unnoticed and they were required to defer the system per the Minimum Equipment List procedures.

Narrative: I operated two flights without realizing our RNAV database was expired. I did not realize until we were contacted by Dispatch; post-flight going on to our 3rd leg; and told to MEL the navigation unit. We were told to call Dispatch who told us that the database was expired; fleet wide in the DH8 fleet. Maintenance missed the navigation database update and the flight crew failed to verify it. Also; with only having 1 RNAV unit in the aircraft and it being located right next to the Captain; First Officers usually feel left out of the loop. Since it is next to the Captain they are nearly always initializing it; programming it; etc. I never even had a chance to see the expired database during the initialization process because the Captain had already set up the unit while I was performing my preflight inspection duties. The navigation unit was MEL'd and we conducted the return flight without RNAV capability. Dispatch and/or Maintenance should have some type of alert that the RNAV database has expired. In fact; the alert should occur a day or two before the database will actually expire.

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.

Attributes
ACN	1098256
Time
Date	201306
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Dash 8-100
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Parked Takeoff
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Navigation Database
Person 1
Function	First Officer
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Deviation - Procedural FAR Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

The pilot of a dhc 8-100 was advised that the fleet's navigation database expiration date had gone unnoticed and they were required to defer the system per the minimum equipment list procedures.