A B737-700 flight crew reported their concerns about ATC's frequent re-clearances given to aircraft ...

Narrative:

We were on the geela 6 arrival; planning on landing 25R. The geela arrival has been printed with different errors in the last two revision cycles; and corrected with NOTAMS and manual changes to the route in the database over the last several months. They finally appear to have gotten it right; though apparently not right enough that they can just let us fly it as published. The current version has eleven altitude restrictions (many of them include two altitudes to be between) and five speed restrictions. We had programmed the arrival into the FMC; and briefed all the waypoints; altitudes; and speeds. We were then cleared for the arrival; but told to maintain 250 knots. More programming. Then ATC vectored us off the arrival. When cleared to descend 'via' the arrival; we set 4000 feet into the altitude window. Since we were now off the arrival; we didn't want to descend to 4000 feet; so had to wait for a break in the radio traffic and clarify which altitude to descend to. The controller did not appear to understand the problem but--on the second try--issued us an altitude that we were very rapidly approaching and for which had to abruptly level off. Then he gave us another vector back onto the arrival; and recleared us to descend via the arrival. I asked if he still needed the 250 knots; and he said; 'that will work.' I assured him that it wouldn't; as the next point had a 265 knot restriction; and the one two more down the road was at 230 knots. He then clarified that we should maintain 250 now; and then comply after hydrr (250 knot restriction; there). In the time [it took to resolve this issue] we had gone through FL180...both of us had set our altimeters; but the continued conversation with ATC distracted us from doing the descent checklist until about 13;000 feet.phoenix has about the most complex arrivals that we fly; but apparently they don't work. I would suggest that they either be simplified to allow ATC more flexibility or not issued as a clearance if they are going to be routinely interrupted. Between the extra workload of programming (and reprogramming) them; briefing (and then re-briefing) them; and coordinating the changes to them with ATC; it is overly distracting in an already busy phase of flight. At the very least; they need to understand the ramifications of their changes.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B737-700 flight crew reported their concerns about ATC's frequent re-clearances given to aircraft previously cleared to descend 'via' the complex RNAV STARs into PHX.

Narrative: We were on the GEELA 6 Arrival; planning on landing 25R. The GEELA Arrival has been printed with different errors in the last two revision cycles; and corrected with NOTAMS and manual changes to the route in the database over the last several months. They finally appear to have gotten it right; though apparently not right enough that they can just let us fly it as published. The current version has eleven altitude restrictions (many of them include two altitudes to be between) and five speed restrictions. We had programmed the arrival into the FMC; and briefed all the waypoints; altitudes; and speeds. We were then cleared for the arrival; but told to maintain 250 knots. More programming. Then ATC vectored us off the arrival. When cleared to descend 'via' the arrival; we set 4000 feet into the Altitude window. Since we were now off the arrival; we didn't want to descend to 4000 feet; so had to wait for a break in the radio traffic and clarify which altitude to descend to. The Controller did not appear to understand the problem but--on the second try--issued us an altitude that we were very rapidly approaching and for which had to abruptly level off. Then he gave us another vector back onto the arrival; and recleared us to descend via the arrival. I asked if he still needed the 250 knots; and he said; 'That will work.' I assured him that it wouldn't; as the next point had a 265 knot restriction; and the one two more down the road was at 230 knots. He then clarified that we should maintain 250 now; and then comply after HYDRR (250 knot restriction; there). In the time [it took to resolve this issue] we had gone through FL180...both of us had set our altimeters; but the continued conversation with ATC distracted us from doing the Descent Checklist until about 13;000 feet.Phoenix has about the most complex arrivals that we fly; but apparently they don't work. I would suggest that they either be simplified to allow ATC more flexibility or not issued as a clearance if they are going to be routinely interrupted. Between the extra workload of programming (and reprogramming) them; briefing (and then re-briefing) them; and coordinating the changes to them with ATC; it is overly distracting in an already busy phase of flight. At the very least; they need to understand the ramifications of their changes.

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.

Attributes
ACN	1013521
Time
Date	201205
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	PHX.Airport
State Reference	AZ
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737-700
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Descent
Route In Use	STAR GEELA 6
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 461 Flight Crew Type 14000
Person 2
Function	First Officer
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 250 Flight Crew Type 6200
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Deviation - Speed All Types Deviation - Track / Heading All Types

A B737-700 flight crew reported their concerns about ATC's frequent re-clearances given to aircraft previously cleared to descend 'via' the complex RNAV stars into phx.