Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP); Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Instrument
Confusion; Situational Awareness
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Other / Unknown
Flight Crew Overcame Equipment Problem
Chart Or Publication; Airspace Structure; Human Factors; Manuals
This report is less about this flight in particular than TLV and other flights in general. This was my first flight to TLV. The station guide mentions reviewing Jepp Briefing Bulletin about transiting Nicosia airspace to get to Tel Aviv. Unfortunately; it doesn't say where to find it. I guessed the Middle East Airway Manual but it was in the General Airway Manual. In any case; the relevant information is also found on the ipad JeppView app by holding down the Nicosia FIR boundary entry point and reading the notes. The Bulletin references three entry points to the north; where calls need to be made 10 minutes prior to entry. What isn't referenced; or easily found; is the requirement for flights approaching from the west/northwest to call Tel Aviv identification on 124.30 or 118.80 no later than 180 NM from Ben Gurion VOR. On the ipad; one must select the notes tab on the bottom left; which often results in a message that notes aren't available because the chart is zoomed out too far. Zooming in still results in a laundry list of 10+ FIRs. The station guide mentions Nicosia; but the restriction is found in the Tel Aviv FIR notes; which a crew might not think to reference until much closer. The check airman on my flight was giving OE to a new hire (but one who had previous international ACMI experience). He had me get out the en route high chart; and made a note of showing all of us how the 180 NM call requirement was rather obvious when looking at the paper chart; but you essentially had to know it was there to find it on the ipad. An easy trap to fall into.  As we transition toward a 'paperless' cockpit; do we intend to stop carrying all paper charts or just approach plates? The trend in training; OE; and on line; in my experience; has been to use the ipad and often not even get out the paper charts. This is but one example of how favoring electronic over paper could easily get a crew in trouble. For this particular flight; a note in the Station Guide would be most helpful. So would a change to the JeppView program that would generate pop-up alerts with such restrictions; based on the route of flight that has been entered.
An air carrier relief pilot reported confusion accessing the data necessary to operate within a foreign country when using the ipad as compared to paper charts.