While the correct English idiom is "on the fritz", an onomatopoeia of electric sparks flying, there also is the mostly-forgotten German habit of referring to the pilot as "Fritz" and the navigator as "Franz" - with the surviving idiom being "verfranzen" for "to (fail at navigation and) get lost".
BTW, I'm looking forward to a business trip in early May. With the usual "I can see a major FAIL coming for us from miles away!"-grade preparation I remember from our secretary. Yes, I
will be bringing physical maps to that "yay, IT in the cloud is oh so modern!" gig.