Narrative:

Company flight operations is not providing the proper equipment for pilots to complete their jobs. I started updating my efb (electronic flight bag) time using lounge wifi; as allowed per fom; 'pilot lounges have wifi that may be used to update charts and e-documents on the efb.' while there is a note that states; 'however there may be times when multiple pilots are downloading large charting and document databases simultaneously; which may increase download times.' I was the only pilot in the lounge at the time. I monitored the efb download; and left my efb in the lounge completing its download; while I arrived at the aircraft prior to 30-minutes before push. I completed my preflight duties. I returned to the lounge at 46 minutes later to get my efb as I expected it to be complete downloading the updates required for flight.as it was still downloading updates; I checked out a loaner efb; to comply with fom policies. When I left the lounge the efb was still in the process of downloading efb updates. I felt extreme scheduling pressure as flight operations had informed me that delaying a flight for departure was unacceptable for efb updates. I was told company gave me the ability to use my privately owned wifi or cellular data to update my efb. Company needs to increase the download speed of their internet connection. It should not take in excess of an hour to update the efb. If this is the case; then company should give pilots more cellular data so they can complete the updates in the 24-hours prior to departure. Company cannot expect pilots to provide wifi connection or cellular data to complete their mandated updates. Checking out a loaner efb is not truly a solution either; as the pilot will not be certain they have read all the read before fly documents since their last flight. Also; all the notes or efb bookmarks will not be available for quick access on the loaner efb.

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air carrier Captain reported it took too long to download updates to the Electronic Flight Bag due to insufficient WiFi in the pilots's Lounge.

Narrative: Company Flight Operations is not providing the proper equipment for pilots to complete their jobs. I started updating my EFB (Electronic Flight Bag) time using lounge WiFi; as allowed per FOM; 'pilot Lounges have WiFi that may be used to update charts and e-documents on the EFB.' While there is a note that states; 'However there may be times when multiple pilots are downloading large charting and document databases simultaneously; which may increase download times.' I was the only pilot in the lounge at the time. I monitored the EFB download; and left my EFB in the lounge completing its download; while I arrived at the aircraft prior to 30-minutes before push. I completed my preflight duties. I returned to the lounge at 46 minutes later to get my EFB as I expected it to be complete downloading the updates required for flight.As it was still downloading updates; I checked out a loaner EFB; to comply with FOM policies. When I left the lounge the EFB was still in the process of downloading EFB updates. I felt extreme scheduling pressure as Flight Operations had informed me that delaying a flight for departure was unacceptable for EFB updates. I was told Company gave me the ability to use my privately owned WiFi or cellular data to update my EFB. Company needs to increase the download speed of their internet connection. It should not take in excess of an hour to update the EFB. If this is the case; then Company should give Pilots more cellular data so they can complete the updates in the 24-hours prior to departure. Company cannot expect Pilots to provide WiFi connection or cellular data to complete their mandated updates. Checking out a loaner EFB is not truly a solution either; as the Pilot will not be certain they have read all the Read Before Fly documents since their last flight. Also; all the notes or EFB bookmarks will not be available for quick access on the loaner EFB.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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.