Pilots flying near the Canadian or Mexican borders now lack detailed aeronautical information on the foreign cross-border areas they often traverse to reach U.S. airports after the FAA deleted it from new sectional charts. Despite queries as to why, the Agency remains mum.
“The concerns came as a result of FAA not receiving Aeronautical Information Services data from foreign air navigation service providers [ANSPs — Canada, Russia, Mexico] in a timely enough fashion to keep up with our new 56-day charting cycle,” AOPA communications director, Eric Blinderman says. “That lag could have resulted in foreign data being as much as one chart cycle behind.”
Blinderman added that the Agency apparently determined that the tardy information transfer from foreign ANSPs was causing too much liability for the FAA. As such, it elected to cease charting the foreign data. “So, FAA’s guidance is now for pilots to purchase foreign aeronautical charts as needed.”
