Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP); Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Multiengine
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 189; Flight Crew Total 8322; Flight Crew Type 2012
Confusion; Human-Machine Interface; Troubleshooting; Workload
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe
General None Reported / Taken
Aircraft
This occurred during the preflight planning phase of our flight. This report is mainly for informational purposes; as there was no operational impact caused. Our normal SID (departure procedure) chart from ZZZZ had a challenging altitude crossing restriction on it which frequently caused discussions among the crews about how to best meet the restriction. Apparently we were not the only airline having trouble with this; because on the flight in question we noticed that the chart had been revised and the restriction had been removed from that particular procedure. However; the reason for this report is that it was very difficult to notice that a procedure change had occurred because of a feature of Jepp FDPro. Specifically; we had all updated our chart database and were current. The SID chart had been updated but at first none of us realized there had been an update because Jepp FDPro transferred our previous chart highlights automatically from the old chart to the new chart during the update process. So; it was nice that items which each of us had highlighted on this particular chart were highlighted on the new chart...but; at the same time; it was very difficult to realize that there even was a new chart. One of the biggest clues to a chart user that a new chart has been issued is that all of your previous highlights have disappeared! But with the current version of Jepp FDPro we all had old highlights on a new chart. I only noticed that the procedure had been changed because I was looking for something very specific on the chart and realized it was gone. I told the other pilots about it; and the flying FO realized that his new chart actually had a blob of highlighter over the area where the altitude restriction had been on the old chart; but now on the new chart there was highlighter with no note underneath it. So this report is just to bring attention to the fact that this feature of Jepp FDPro of transferring highlights from an old chart to an updated chart has the secondary effect of making it very difficult to realize that an update had occurred. It is a potential safety threat in that a chart user might not realize a chart has been updated because he/she sees his previous highlight marks and could assume that it's the same chart. The highlight marks; both on the paper chart as well as the electronic version of the same; is something very subtle; but I never realized how much of an important indicator it is to tell you that a chart has been revised when the highlights disappear in the revision process. While we were able to realize that the procedure had changed; it may catch another crew by surprise. I recommend that in future versions of Jepp FDPro that highlight marks should not transfer from one iteration of a chart to the next because the helpfulness of this feature is far outweighed by the confusion it causes.
Air carrier First Officer reported the new version of Jepp FDPro transfers highlights the pilots have entered on old charts to new charts. This makes it difficult to identify a new chart.