A flight crew on the cyyz waterloo four arrival missed the approach plate note reminding pilots that...

Attributes
ACN	1001556
Time
Date	201203
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	CYYZ.Airport
State Reference	ON
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Medium Large Transport Low Wing 2 Turbojet Eng
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Descent
Route In Use	STAR WATERLOO 4
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Pilot Not Flying First Officer
Qualification	Flight Crew Commercial
Person 2
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Altitude Overshoot Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

Narrative:

This happened; as you can see in toronto's airspace; so I don't know if this will protect me; but maybe it can be a learning experience for others hopefully. We were flying the waterloo 4 arrival into cyyz; on with approach. We were given clearance to maintain 11;000 ft; altimeter 30.32. Passing trough 14;000 ft ATC called and told us to stop the descent at 13;000 ft which we did. Then the controller asked if we were flying the arrival; and we said yes. He then pointed out that even though we were given a lower altitude; we must still follow the altitudes on the STAR; which was rockto between I believe 16;000 and 14;000 and 250 KTS. We were at least 5 to 10 mile to rockto. I guess the main problem the captain and I thought of was the fact that in the us; unless you are given 'descend via'; you just go down to the assigned altitude. In this situation; we must follow the plate and descent to the lower altitude. The captain was pilot flying; I was pilot not flying. After reading the notes on the plate; it could still be hard to know what was wanted after being given a lower altitude. Maybe on a short flight like this; look at the arrival before. There is a lot of info on that plate.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A flight crew on the CYYZ Waterloo Four arrival missed the approach plate note reminding pilots that all altitude constraints are mandatory as they descended to 11;000 FT prior to the ROKTO minimum of 14;000 FT.

Narrative: This happened; as you can see in Toronto's airspace; so I don't know if this will protect me; but maybe it can be a learning experience for others hopefully. We were flying the Waterloo 4 arrival into CYYZ; on with Approach. We were given clearance to maintain 11;000 FT; altimeter 30.32. Passing trough 14;000 FT ATC called and told us to stop the descent at 13;000 FT which we did. Then the Controller asked if we were flying the arrival; and we said yes. He then pointed out that even though we were given a lower altitude; we must still follow the altitudes on the STAR; which was ROCKTO between I believe 16;000 and 14;000 and 250 KTS. We were at least 5 to 10 mile to ROCKTO. I guess the main problem the Captain and I thought of was the fact that in the US; unless you are given 'Descend Via'; you just go down to the assigned altitude. In this situation; we must follow the plate and descent to the lower altitude. The Captain was pilot flying; I was pilot not flying. After reading the notes on the plate; it could still be hard to know what was wanted after being given a lower altitude. Maybe on a short flight like this; look at the arrival before. There is a lot of info on that plate.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

A flight crew on the cyyz waterloo four arrival missed the approach plate note reminding pilots that all altitude constraints are mandatory as they descended to 11;000 ft prior to the rokto minimum of 14;000 ft.