BA 767 Moving Map error
 

Mods

I'm not sure where to post this, so please move as appropriate.

This is just a note for anyone (FD, engineers etc) on the BA 767 fleet.

I travelled back from FRA today and was somewhat surprised to see on the moving map that Stansted had been moved to approximately the position of Maidstone :confused:

Maybe its a known error, but I thought I'd post it, in case anyone is interested in investigating the apparent bug.

I was under the impression that those things are GPS controlled therefore the problem would be with the satelite!
However, did it dawn on you to inform the cabin crew so they could mention it to the pilots?

It would have to be a problem with at least 6 satellites and would lead to the aircraft being many miles off course!

Hand Solo, not understanding the system I did not wish to make any assumptions about how it worked.

Everything else was located where I would expect it be be and the track displayed coincided with the visual picture out of the window (to the extent of cross checking against Southend pier, Central London etc), so could there be a naming error in the database?

To give you a better idea, the moving map showed Bromley and "Stansted" was located to the SE, near the River Medway!

Harlow and Cambridge were located well to the north of London, with a nice gap where Stansted should have been - it looked most bizarre indeed.

APaddy

Its good to have geniuses like you posting on the forum, what would we do without you?

I did think to mention it to the CSD, who was extremely patronizing and told me that it was nothing worthy of mention. Well, she is in charge of the aircraft, so what more could I do? :}

F3G,

I was on a flight from Gatwick to Calgary a few years ago, and the IFE moving map display showed us departing to the east (no problem, 08 in use) and then turn south east and continue over the channel towards Calais. Over northern France people started getting worried, and after someone mentioned to the cabin crew the system was 'rebooted' and we appeared over Northern Ireland.

The map itself is just a large data base stored in a hard drive within the IFE system, the position of the aircfart on that map is derived from GPS, so any error on the map is in theory always going to be there.
have not noticed it myself, I think i'm usually in the flight deck when stansted is on the map!, will try and have a look for you.

Were you on a long haul 767 that day?, coz our short haul ones do not have a moving map display.

Spoilers Yellow

Yes, it was a dusked aircraft replacing the scheduled narrow body aircraft. Pretty nice as it happened, as I'd been up since 0230 UK time and managed to have 45 mins cat napping on a flat bed:D

I believe that I also saw the same error a few weeks ago, coming back from DXB on a 777, so perhaps there is an IFE database error. I was getting my kids ready for landing so, did not pay much attention, but had a lingering feeling driving home that somethingn was odd.

question - does it really matter!?:mad:

If it doesn't, why waste your time and effort making a pointless post on the subject?

This post is not directly relevant, it's just me nattering on a Saturday night, so ignore as desired)

Some years ago on a GVA~LHR with Swiss Air (as was), in a Bus (319 I think but might have been a 320) the moving map showed the aircraft taxing neatly down to the departure runway ... but we appeared to be reversing there! We then took off 'facing' back down the runway and, subsequently, the aircraft must have used reverse thrust to drag us backwards across central Europe but we landed without difficulty. :p

Just a thought F3G: Might Stansted be on a late summer vacation? You know, one of those quick, "Let's get away this weekend to somewhere different" moments? Dash down to the main concourse and see what's on offer? To late, you discover that it's Ryan Air's new Essex destination ... in Kent.

OK, OK, it's Saturday night and I must have something better to do ...

--------------------
"I tell you, we are here on Earth to fart around, and don't let anybody tell you any different." Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

Was on an A340 once YVR-LHR and the map at take-off indicated 14,000 miles +/- to destination and 26 hours to go. After half an hour, it corrected itself.

Moving to "Tech log" - Some kind soul there will hopefully put down their spanner and mug of Skydrol and give us the technical explanation ;)

I know it may have been just an error in the IFE but anyways it's still good to have good old vor's just incase the whole thing shuts down i.e solar flares stuff:D

Would have thought several of us here would have noticed, as I have done over the years since the maps appeared, the number of errors on them.

The track shown always seems OK, the coastline is distorted in places, but the various cities shown for location are often way off position. These must be stored with erroneous coordinates in a database in the system.

Also often notable is the wacky range of cities chosen for location purposes.

From a computer technical person's point of view, it is a typical US-developed system (I believe Honeywell are the main suppliers). Good basic concept, developed rapidly, sales and marketing very good. But the actual application is poor for useability and accuracy, and the glitches don't get updated. European IT companies tend to get these the priorities the other way round.

Glad the flight deck don't use it for navigation ! (by the way, many passengers believe that it does come from the aircraft's priimary navigation systems)

WHBM

I haven't flown BA L/H for a couple of years, certainly didn't notice it then.

I'm hoping that Spoilers Yellow will be able to shed some light.