Date: 201906
Local time of day: 1801-2400
Location: ZZZ.Airport, US
Flight conditions: Marginal
Light: Dusk
Aircraft: Regional Jet 200 ER/LR (CRJ200)
Operator: Air Carrier
Operating under: Part 121
Flight plan: IFR
Mission: Passenger
Flight phase: Parked
Reporter organization: Air Carrier
Reporter function: Captain
Reporter qualification: Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP); Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Multiengine
Human factors: Confusion
Anomaly: ATC Issue All Types; Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Detector: Person Flight Crew
When detected: Aircraft In Service At Gate
Result: General None Reported / Taken
Contributing factors: Procedure; Company Policy
Primary problem: Ambiguous

Narrative: Prior to pushback; but after running the preflight check with all passengers on board the aircraft; I noticed that the ADS-B fail button was illuminated. I pointed to the button to show the FO [First Officer] then said; 'I have never seen that before; have you? I don't even think I have seen anything in the manuals about it not working.' He said he had not either and then checked RT2 as I grabbed the QRH. Flight attendant entered the cockpit and asked if she was good to close. I sent a message to Dispatch and Maintenance via ACARS as I told her it was ok to close. After finding nothing about ADS-B failure in the QRH and talking about it briefly; we queried the Tower to see if they were able to pick up our transponder and briefly explained the situation. The Tower responded that they didn't have the equipment necessary to determine that on the ground. Another aircraft that had just pushed from another gate came over the radio and stated that they were having the same problem and would need to shutdown to resolve the issue with their Maintenance. Maintenance texted back to us via ACARS and stated that it was a systems issue; not an aircraft issue and that no write-up was necessary. I said to the FO that 'I guess we can push then?' and he said 'I guess?' We gave the command to push; started the engines; and in the process of running the After Start checklist; I noticed that the FMS was stating GPS Unavailable. At that time; another CRJ landed and Tower responded over the ground frequency that the CRJ that just landed reported a similar issue. I told FO that it sounds to be like it is a Satellite Network issue and not an aircraft issue. He stated to me that 'we can't go without GPS right?' I stated that GPS itself is deferrable; that we just cannot perform RNAV SIDs; STARS; or Approaches.' I then told him that 'in my opinion it should be treated more like a NOTAMs issue than an aircraft issue. I then stated that ADS-B is satellite based; and GPS is satellite based...since it is happening to multiple aircraft at the same airport; that it shouldn't prevent us from taking off.' I then queried the Tower to let them know that the GPS was not available and he stated 'no problem; we can give you vectors on take-off.' Because of the short taxi; we elected to run our remaining checklists before moving the aircraft; and everything else was working correctly. I then mentioned to the FO that it was possible; that we were in a satellite dead spot and it could start working again after takeoff. We asked for permission to taxi and taxied to the hold-short line. The Tower queried us asking if we were ready to go... I looked at the FO and sensing reservation; I told the tower 'we need just a minute.' I asked the FO that 'it is not my place to force you to do anything that you feel uncomfortable with. If you don't think we should go; then we can taxi back to the gate.' He didn't respond right away; but after a pause said; 'No; I guess we can go.' I told the tower we were ready for takeoff. The issue did not resolve itself after TO; after transferring to Center; we told them we were unable to accept the RNAV arrival due to GPS Unavailable; and that we needed vectors. They asked us if we would be able to execute the ILS PRM; which we replied yes; and they said no problem and gave us vectors throughout the arrival. The flight continued on without further issue. We arrived at the gate; said goodbye; and proceeded to get ready to perform my next flight. As I saw the paperwork; the flight had no FO or FA [Flight Attendant] listed; so I had to call Dispatcher and told him that we had no FO or FA listed; then I stated that even though the GPS issue isn't with our aircraft surely we have to do something about it right? That was when he said we needed to contact [Maintenance Control]; and that they were going to have to defer it and he would have to refile the route. He stated that every airplane is affected and that there was a significant wait for Maintenance. He patched me through to Maintenance who the told me to call the Dispatcher back and tell him for us to be put in the queue of aircraft to be deferred. It was at this time I realized that I needed to file a report. The FO was not still around so he is not aware that he needed to file one as well. The cause of the ASAP is due to the lack of guidance in manuals regarding ADS-B; as well as my misguided reasoning of it being a network issue; not an aircraft issue. Therefore; instead of treating it like an aircraft problem with deferrals like it evidently should have been we treated it like a NOTAM issue similar to an inoperative ALS. Lack of guidance from Dispatch and Maintenance via ACARS was a contributing factor as well. Do we need to add more information about ADS-B failures to QRH?




Synopsis: CRJ-200 Captain reported confusion about flight plan filing procedures during a period of nationwide GPS outage.