A319
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 150; Flight Crew Total 12000; Flight Crew Type 1900
Confusion; Situational Awareness; Human-Machine Interface; Communication Breakdown
Other Unwanted situation
Chart Or Publication; Company Policy; Human Factors; Procedure
Recently the pilots have been made very aware of the issue of missing revised segments to the ATC cleared routes. This was such an issue; that the format of the PDC has been changed to highlight the revised segment section of the clearance.Now there is a new threat to preflighting and programming the FMGCs. The new flight planning system downloads the filed route via data-link directly to the FMGC. The pilots are to insert the departure and arrival runways with the appropriate SID; STAR and transitions; and to then verify the route against the OFP and the PDC. The danger we are now encountering is that the documents (OFP and PDC) we use to verify the proper programming are sources of conflicting data.Our OFP filed route was:PATSS3 PATSS DCT NELIE FLOSI2The PDC filed route was:PATSS3 PATSS NELIE IGN IGN265 FLOSI FLOSI2Examination of the OFP waypoint by waypoint; as if this was a Class II overwater flight; proved that the OFP and PDC were in agreement; however; this is not the normal SOP for verifying FMGC programming.--The ATC filing section of the OFP must be complete; as many times the PDC filed route will be greatly abbreviated by inserting ''''''''' then destination; leaving the pilots with no complete source document to use to verify the programmed route of flight.--These inconsistencies are a source of confusion and will lead to programming errors; loss of aircraft separation in flight; and certificate actions against pilots.
An A319 First Officer expressed concern that it is difficult to reconcile the PDC delivered filed route with company downloaded FMGC route because the formats are different and; even if identical; may require point by point comparisons with airways charts to assure they are the same.