“That bug kicks in when airliner crews try to program the autopilot to follow what the FAA described as “a selected instrument approach to a specific runway”.
Seven runways, of which five are in the US, and two in South America - in Colombia and Guyana respectively – trigger the bug. Instrument approach procedures guide pilots to safe landings in all weather conditions regardless of visibility.
“All six display units (DUs) blanked with a selected instrument approach to a runway with a 270-degree true heading, and all six DUs stayed blank until a different runway was selected,” noted the FAA’s airworthiness directive, summarising three incidents that occurred on scheduled 737 flights to Barrow, Alaska, in 2019.
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