Crews cautioned as Russian airspace change swamps navigation update

European regulators are cautioning that flight-management system databases and charts for western Russia might be outdated as a result of the data workload created by an extensive restructuring of the region’s airspace. The restructuring – which takes effect on 3 December – is centred on the Moscow flight information region but affects nine other surrounding FIRs. Overhaul of the airspace structure will result in major changes to standard departure and arrival procedures, introduction of new transitions, and adjustments to waypoints, navaids or descent profiles. “This created a substantial increase in the volume of aeronautical data that…providers have to code in their flight-management system navigational databases,” says the EASA in a 27 November bulletin. It says that data providers have informed the regulator that coding of all the necessary information “cannot be ensured in a timely manner”. Such data is regularly updated according to the Aeronautical Information Regulation and Control cycle, the latest of which is designated AIRAC 2013. EASA warns of a number of possible scenarios, such as charts being outdated as the flight-management system database is updated, or missing procedures in the database. Data providers including Jeppesen, Lufthansa Systems and Navblue have issued alerts to customers regarding the potential deficiencies.<br/>