If you’re like us, you have multiple sources for aeronautical data—charts—that can be in digital or paper format. Also like us, maybe the digital data you use in the cockpit comes from different vendors, even if it’s the same basic information. Everyone makes mistakes from time to time, even the FAA, with the eventual result that errors are found and corrected, and notifications are provided. Some errors result in notices to airmen (Notams), but others don’t, and just get quietly corrected. How do you know what mistakes have been made, and what to do about it?
As with so many things aviation-related, the answer is, “It depends.” For one, it depends on what kind of error it is. For another, it depends on who made it, the FAA or a chart/data vendor. The error also can be related specifically to digital data, and possibly to certain combinations of avionics hardware and software. The bottom line is that the aeronautical data pilots and operators use come with multiple opportunities for errors to creep in. Learning about where and how to find these errors is part of the challenge.
