Narrative:

I was expecting the normal update prompt; but the red number one did not appear when I logged on in operations. Another pilot commented his update took one hour. Later I had the red ball number and completed update at hotel...very slow. After 'update complete'; no airports were available and software would not work. Tech support said the download was corrupted; and advised uninstall and reinstall. This did not help. Arrival at mia for departure with no chart database. Captain had the same issue. We tried update using the airport lounge connection; but it was going very slow with the same result probable. Other pilots were complaining of similar difficulties. We borrowed a set of paper charts; copied the pertinent charts; and departed. Today at home I easily completed a good update. I suspect the problem was with the server or data. This could result in operational problems if it reoccurs. I don't think the system should erase a good data package and replace it with corruption. If the download is no good the system should not continue the process. There seems to be no way to verify or fix download issues other then a complete redo of the installation. I think the 'what-ifs' haven't been adequately considered in the change to full efb. This needs to be reworked with the commercial chart maker. We should have a good backup plan for wide scale data corruption.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air carrier pilot reports difficulty downloading his weekly EFB update and later requires the use of paper charts due to the corrupted database.

Narrative: I was expecting the normal update prompt; but the red number one did not appear when I logged on in operations. Another pilot commented his update took one hour. Later I had the red ball number and completed update at hotel...very slow. After 'update complete'; no airports were available and software would not work. Tech Support said the download was corrupted; and advised uninstall and reinstall. This did not help. Arrival at MIA for departure with no chart database. Captain had the same issue. We tried update using the airport lounge connection; but it was going very slow with the same result probable. Other pilots were complaining of similar difficulties. We borrowed a set of paper charts; copied the pertinent charts; and departed. Today at home I easily completed a good update. I suspect the problem was with the server or data. This could result in operational problems if it reoccurs. I don't think the system should erase a good data package and replace it with corruption. If the download is no good the system should not continue the process. There seems to be no way to verify or fix download issues other then a complete redo of the installation. I think the 'what-ifs' haven't been adequately considered in the change to full EFB. This needs to be reworked with the Commercial Chart maker. We should have a good backup plan for wide scale data corruption.

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.