A B757 first officer reported the aircraft's efb database was out of date but the crew could find no...

Narrative:

I was the first officer. During the preflight of the aircraft; we noticed that the database in the electronic flight bag was out of date. I referred to the company flight manual (cfm) which addressed the requirement to check the database; but not what to do if the database was found to be out of date. During the initial transition to our current commercial charts based route manual; my recollection was that we had received specific guidance to record discrepancies (missing and outdated pages; errors; etc.) in the physical binder rather than the maintenance log; additionally my understanding of the guidance was not to involve maintenance because there was a different agency responsible for the paper version of the route manual. When we recognized the out of date database and didn't find specific guidance in the cfm; I was asked by the captain to refer to the MEL; flight operating manual (fom); and flight crew training manual (fctm). I reported back that I didn't find any additional guidance. Once airborne; we referred to the cfm; fctm; asm; and fom again. We searched electronically for references; but I didn't find any specific guidance. At that point the captain and I discussed the situation. His decision was to write up the discrepancy in the maintenance log. Our trip had been revised four times by that point; and this leg was designated as a sweep flight. It was during our discussion about the maintenance write-up; that we received notification from the company that they wanted us to divert. We reprogrammed the FMS and began our re-route. Approximately five minutes later; we were re-routed; this time to our initial destination. By the time of our final re-route; we were high and behind the normal descent profile. Due to the high work load we forgot about our intent to make the maintenance log write-up.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B757 First Officer reported the aircraft's EFB Database was out of date but the crew could find no guidance for corrective action and in the end failed to enter the discrepancy in the Maintenance Log because of the workload.

Narrative: I was the First Officer. During the preflight of the aircraft; we noticed that the Database in the Electronic Flight Bag was out of date. I referred to the Company Flight Manual (CFM) which addressed the requirement to check the Database; but not what to do if the Database was found to be out of date. During the initial transition to our current Commercial Charts based Route Manual; my recollection was that we had received specific guidance to record discrepancies (missing and outdated pages; errors; etc.) in the physical binder rather than the Maintenance Log; additionally my understanding of the guidance was not to involve maintenance because there was a different agency responsible for the paper version of the Route Manual. When we recognized the out of date Database and didn't find specific guidance in the CFM; I was asked by the Captain to refer to the MEL; Flight Operating Manual (FOM); and Flight Crew Training Manual (FCTM). I reported back that I didn't find any additional guidance. Once airborne; we referred to the CFM; FCTM; ASM; and FOM again. We searched electronically for references; but I didn't find any specific guidance. At that point the Captain and I discussed the situation. His decision was to write up the discrepancy in the Maintenance Log. Our trip had been revised four times by that point; and this leg was designated as a sweep flight. It was during our discussion about the Maintenance write-up; that we received notification from the Company that they wanted us to divert. We reprogrammed the FMS and began our re-route. Approximately five minutes later; we were re-routed; this time to our initial destination. By the time of our final re-route; we were high and behind the normal descent profile. Due to the high work load we forgot about our intent to make the Maintenance Log write-up.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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	946368
Time
Date	201104
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B757 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Parked
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Electronic Flt Bag (EFB)
Person 1
Function	Pilot Not Flying First Officer
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Flight Engineer Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Multiengine
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 120 Flight Crew Total 15000 Flight Crew Type 1000
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

A B757 first officer reported the aircraft's efb database was out of date but the crew could find no guidance for corrective action and in the end failed to enter the discrepancy in the maintenance log because of the workload.