A B777 captain questioned flight planning and dispatch's review of an ETOPS flight plan and release ...

Narrative:

Reviewing release 1; I noticed that the first portion of the flight had an ETOPS leg leaving the 60 minute circle of the departure airport and prior to the 60 minute circle of an intermediate airport. [However]; this was not reflected in the flight plan. I continued reviewing the flight plan thinking I must have something wrong in my thinking. I could not conceive that the flight planning system would plan a flight eliminating this ETOPS segment. Reviewing the weather; I noticed no weather for intermediate ETOPS airport. This happens because there is no NWS forecast for that airport. I called the dispatcher and stated I felt this was an illegal flight plan because we were in ETOPS airspace with no ETOPS plan. After reviewing; dispatch agreed that was the case. It seems; if not noticed by dispatch; the flight planning system will produce an illegal flight plan if there is not weather reported at an ETOPS alternate airport; at least in this case for this oceanic segment.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B777 Captain questioned Flight Planning and Dispatch's review of an ETOPS flight plan and release that was missing an ETOPS segment and also an ETOPS divert airport with no weather reporting.

Narrative: Reviewing release 1; I noticed that the first portion of the flight had an ETOPS leg leaving the 60 minute circle of the departure airport and prior to the 60 minute circle of an intermediate airport. [However]; this was not reflected in the flight plan. I continued reviewing the flight plan thinking I must have something wrong in my thinking. I could not conceive that the flight planning system would plan a flight eliminating this ETOPS segment. Reviewing the weather; I noticed no weather for intermediate ETOPS airport. This happens because there is no NWS forecast for that airport. I called the Dispatcher and stated I felt this was an illegal flight plan because we were in ETOPS airspace with no ETOPS plan. After reviewing; Dispatch agreed that was the case. It seems; if not noticed by Dispatch; the flight planning system will produce an illegal flight plan if there is not weather reported at an ETOPS alternate airport; at least in this case for this oceanic segment.

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	981985
Time
Date	201111
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B777-200
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 160 Flight Crew Total 26500 Flight Crew Type 2500
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

A B777 captain questioned flight planning and dispatch's review of an ETOPS flight plan and release that was missing an ETOPS segment and also an ETOPS divert airport with no weather reporting.