A B737 first officer discovered that arkes intersection on the arkes RNAV SID is not included as an ...

Narrative:

We were filed via the ARKES1 RNAV departure; arkes transition; and thence via J113. I selected the ARKES1 departure; arkes transition; but when I entered J113 from arkes; the FMC gave the error message 'invalid entry'. When I entered J113 from vkz to llnch (the two fixes on either side of arkes); arkes was not included as one of the en route fixes on that segment on the legs page. It appears that the arkes fix was omitted from the FMC database as a fix on J113; although the fix itself is included in the database as a standalone location; and as part of the ARKES1 departure. I have experienced this several times before; our fmcs are so old that the storage capacity is insufficient to contain all of the required fixes in the database. I was able to take a few minutes to look up J113 on the chart and verify the actual course; and jury-rigged it by programming a direct route from arkes to llnch; and then via J113 on course (llnch is included in the FMC J113 routing). I'm sure that was 'close enough for government work' but was obviously inelegant and I benefited from having time to research this during preflight operations. However; if that routing were assigned inflight; a crew would be challenged to troubleshoot this apparent failure of the FMC to accept what seems to be a valid route. Our fmcs should somehow (via storage expansion or replacement of the units with more modern versions) have their storage upgraded to support the entire database for the areas in which we fly. Alternatively; the company should publish a list of the fixes that have been erased from the database so that pilots will be aware of this problem before it affects them.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B737 First Officer discovered that ARKES intersection on the ARKES RNAV SID is not included as an airways fix on J113 although the High Altitude charts display it as such. Reporter feels this is the result of lack of FMC data storage capacity on the airline's older generation aircraft.

Narrative: We were filed via the ARKES1 RNAV departure; ARKES transition; and thence via J113. I selected the ARKES1 departure; ARKES transition; but when I entered J113 from ARKES; the FMC gave the error message 'INVALID ENTRY'. When I entered J113 from VKZ to LLNCH (the two fixes on either side of ARKES); ARKES was not included as one of the en route fixes on that segment on the LEGS page. It appears that the ARKES fix was omitted from the FMC database as a fix on J113; although the fix itself is included in the database as a standalone location; and as part of the ARKES1 departure. I have experienced this several times before; our FMCs are so old that the storage capacity is insufficient to contain all of the required fixes in the database. I was able to take a few minutes to look up J113 on the chart and verify the actual course; and jury-rigged it by programming a direct route from ARKES to LLNCH; and then via J113 on course (LLNCH is included in the FMC J113 routing). I'm sure that was 'close enough for government work' but was obviously inelegant and I benefited from having time to research this during preflight operations. However; if that routing were assigned inflight; a crew would be challenged to troubleshoot this apparent failure of the FMC to accept what seems to be a valid route. Our FMCs should somehow (via storage expansion or replacement of the units with more modern versions) have their storage upgraded to support the entire database for the areas in which we fly. Alternatively; the company should publish a list of the fixes that have been erased from the database so that pilots will be aware of this problem before it affects them.

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	884165
Time
Date	201004
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	FLL.Airport
State Reference	FL
Environment
Light	Dusk
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Parked
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	FMS/FMC
Person 1
Function	First Officer Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Track / Heading All Types

A B737 first officer discovered that arkes intersection on the arkes RNAV SID is not included as an airways fix on J113 although the high altitude charts display it as such. Reporter feels this is the result of lack of FMC data storage capacity on the airline's older generation aircraft.