air space incursion due to Pocket FMS data

[jorg@steyvers.net]

I had a very unpleasant experience the other day, during which I was advised of repeated airspace violations during years of my flying in northern Spain. These violations were due to inaccurate data in the pocket fms and easy VFR database, on which Dynon relies for european data. The specific case was that the Galicia TMA (northern spanish province) was shown as class E (uncontrolled) airspace, while for years already it should be shown as class D (controlled and flight plan required).
Needless to say I was shocked that the highest level of data in the system (Cat. 1 AIP data) could actually be flawed in the system. As a result my confidence in the data integrity is shaken, and more so as Pocket FMS reaction has been rather "muted". A simple apology, but no communication to other users (except in the spanish fórum section of Pocket FMS which nobody reads), correction in easy VFR will wait for the next data update still more tan 2 weeks away, etc. No sign of any quality assurance process to verify accuracy of basic data, no sign of communication processes that openly deals with errors or failures. In short, following this experience Pocket FMS data can NOT be relied upon for air navigation without contrasting against oficial means or you might risk airspace incursions.

 

[dublinpilot]

There has indeed been a serious error identified in relation to this airspace. We have already completed a full review of all airspaces in the area, and no other errors were found. At this moment we are working to make an updated database available to users to correct this error.

Getting this out as soon as possible is our main focus at present. Once that is done, the investigation into how it occurred and what we can learn from it, to avoid future such errors will begin. Such errors are extremely rare, and notable by their exception.

But for the moment, our focus has to be on getting a new database to users, which is expected in the next 24 hours.