An md-80 flight crew failed to comply with the altitude restriction at suprt waypoint on the trups R...

Attributes
ACN	1031018
Time
Date	201208
Local Time Of Day	0001-0600
Place
Locale Reference	DCA.Airport
State Reference	DC
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	MD-83
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Descent
Route In Use	STAR TRUPS ONE
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	FMS/FMC
Person 1
Function	Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Altitude Crossing Restriction Not Met Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Deviation - Procedural Clearance Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence

Narrative:

Descending via the trups RNAV arrival I missed the crossing restriction at suprt. According to the GPS we were going to make it just fine; but then the GPS seemed to re-compute the distance to the point and suddenly we were high by about 300 ft. We had a good 30 KT+ tailwind which didn't help things. My opinion is this arrival is not designed well. There are way too many altitude crossings and we spent way too long with our heads down in the cockpit trying to make sure we met all the restrictions. I don't think this arrival will be feasible in the winter with a much stronger tailwind. We had a hard enough time with one in the 30s. The GPS should also be programmed to put us at the bottom of each [crossing altitude window] instead of the top; which is what it was doing with us.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An MD-80 flight crew failed to comply with the altitude restriction at SUPRT waypoint on the TRUPS RNAV STAR to DCA. The reporter cited excessive complexity of the arrival as the primary causative factor.

Narrative: Descending via the TRUPS RNAV Arrival I missed the crossing restriction at SUPRT. According to the GPS we were going to make it just fine; but then the GPS seemed to re-compute the distance to the point and suddenly we were high by about 300 FT. We had a good 30 KT+ tailwind which didn't help things. My opinion is this arrival is not designed well. There are way too many altitude crossings and we spent way too long with our heads down in the cockpit trying to make sure we met all the restrictions. I don't think this arrival will be feasible in the winter with a much stronger tailwind. We had a hard enough time with one in the 30s. The GPS should also be programmed to put us at the bottom of each [crossing altitude window] instead of the top; which is what it was doing with us.

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.

An md-80 flight crew failed to comply with the altitude restriction at suprt waypoint on the trups RNAV STAR to dca. The reporter cited excessive complexity of the arrival as the primary causative factor.