Regional Jet 700 ER/LR (CRJ700)
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP); Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Multiengine
Confusion
ATC Issue All Types; Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Clearance; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural MEL / CDL; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Flight Crew Requested ATC Assistance / Clarification
Airspace Structure; Company Policy; Procedure
Prior to push back from ZZZ we simultaneously received 3 unusual messages from the aircraft. We got an XPDR FAIL message annunciated on the transponder; ADS-B Fail Light on the panel; and on our FMS we had a GPS NOT AVAILABLE message. Initially I thought that similar to our EFIS COMP MON messages; this may have been due to interference from the airport infrastructure; so the Captain and I decided to continue our push off the gate and see if the problem fixed itself as we taxied away from the gate. Just in case there was a GPS Outage; I updated the FMS position with the current position for the gate. We asked Ground Control if they were receiving our transponder; and they confirmed that they were receiving our transponder normally. We received a taxi clearance to a hold pad short of the runway to troubleshoot the issues. The problems did not resolve during taxi. We sent a message to Dispatch; and the Captain called Maintenance [MX] Control. MX Control knew that the XPDR Fail message was due to a nationwide ADS-B outage; and told us that the XPDR should still function normally; and there were no airworthiness issues; with our transponder; but simply that without an appropriate ADS-B signal the transponder would give us that message. They said specifically not to write up the transponder since the issues was associated with the nationwide ADS-B outage and not with any faulty aircraft equipment; and then that we were still airworthy and legal to depart normally. The Captain and I discussed the GPS NOT AVAILABLE message on the FMS; and determined after conversing with Dispatch that it was also related to the system failures. Our Dispatcher sent us an ACARS message that 'It's an ATC System issues. As far as we know we are still good to depart and land'. We told him that since we were no longer RNAV 1 capable (FOM 5-65 & SOPM 4-16.21); we would need to be refilled on non RNAV SID's & STAR's. Our Dispatcher said; 'I was told to file flights normally...since the issue is with the GNSS system and not our aircraft'. He then sent us an ACARS message saying 'ATC Command Center is reporting the outage was due to 'Geomagnetic Activity' as reported by NORAD'. At this point I contacted Clearance to try and receive a reroute and they told us to re file the flight plan with our company; so we told our Dispatcher again to re file us and change the equipment code since we were no longer capable of GPS or the RNAV 1. He told us 'I'm sure ATC will be able to give you what you need but on our end we are required to just file normally.' About a minute later he sent us another message saying; 'You are complying with everything - It is not our issue it is ATC's issue.' We talked again to Clearance and they were able to rework our departure to the only non-RNAV departure out. We were under the impression that he also changed our equipment capabilities in our flight plan. The Captain and I re-briefed our departure; and double-checked to make sure we were doing everything by our procedures. After referencing the FOM we felt that we had satisfied all of the requirements to legally and safely depart. We also discussed the equipment anomalies and determined that after discussing with MX and Dispatch that all three messages were due to the 'geomagnetic activity' and not any aircraft specific problems. We felt that we were airworthy and legal; however just with degraded navigation capabilities due to the ADS-B & GNSS system outage; which had nothing to do with inoperative equipment on the airplane. We departed using DME/DME RNAV in the FMS on the sole non-RNAV departure. Prior to takeoff the FMS Radio tuning page was selected to AUTO; and the runway update was performed per using the TOGA buttons once lined up with the departure runway. The FOM stated that we were authorized to use the FMS for enroute RNAV navigation as long as it was not on Q or T routes. We flew without issue enroute and had Center switch us to a non-RNAV since we still had a GPS NOT AVAILABLE message. We transitioned onto the ILS with green needles. The FMS had about a 0.35NM drift that had developed during the flight. On the descent we received a message from Dispatch saying 'We are holding flights that have XPDER FAIL on the Ground. Flight Ops doesn't want those planes flying'. After landing; the ramp was an absolute disaster and all the gates were occupied due to our aircraft and other carriers having these same issues. We called and spoke directly with our Dispatcher and he didn't seem to have any issues with how we operated; and said that Flight Ops made the decision just because these types of operations were irregular and it was becoming problematic trying to Dispatch aircraft that had these issues to certain airports that we operated into. The cause of this event was geomagnetic activity according to ATC and our Dispatcher. We did not have an actual ADS-B Transponder or GPS failure; it was a failure of the ADS-B and GNSS network outside of our aircraft. While our manual does provide guidance on how to operate without GPS; it was hard to find and took well over 15 minutes. It would maybe be appropriate to put this information in a quarterly CBT for review since it isn't often that we are having to fly without GPS...however occasionally it does happen; and a refresher course for our pilots on the capabilities/limitations of our navigation equipment would be good. I did not know until I referenced the manuals last night that our FMS was certified for DME/DME RNAV but does not meet the PBN requirements of RNAV 1 for SID's STAR's and Approaches. Additionally; since the three messages we got were not EICAS messages; there is no guidance in the QRH or our procedures on how to deal with them. Since our system is becoming more highly reliant on ADS-B; it might be appropriate to address these holes in our operations with some updated procedures on how to deal with this type of an issue. After refiling with ATC; we were able to operate fairly normally to ZZZ1 without any issues.
A CRJ-700 First Officer reported flight plan filing issues related to a nationwide GPS outage.