An md-80 flight crew descending 'via' the ravnn RNAV STAR to bwi with strong tailwinds was unable to...

Narrative:

We were cleared to descend via the RAVNN3 RNAV STAR inbound to bwi. The pilot flying elected to brief the night time arrival with possible weather issues during descent. Unfortunately we had a 150 KT tailwind and only short mileages between fixes. We made sacco and fimbo at the prescribed 16;000. As we approached udude [required 'at or above 14;000'] we had not started further descent; still legal; however the next crossing; rexee; was 'at 12;000' and only 7.5 NM away. The pilot not flying noticed the problem and brought it to pilot flying's attention. We then requested relief on the crossing and were cleared to simply descend to and maintain the altitude. ATC was surprised and wanted to know what happened. No clearance was actually violated; however intent was not met.we needed to brief the approach earlier and be more aware of descent requirements. We should also have used the available VNAV mode (the aircraft was INS/VNAV equipped).

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An MD-80 flight crew descending 'via' the RAVNN RNAV STAR to BWI with strong tailwinds was unable to comply with the 'At 12;000' crossing restriction at REXEE. ATC provided the necessary relief.

Narrative: We were cleared to descend Via the RAVNN3 RNAV STAR inbound to BWI. The pilot flying elected to brief the night time arrival with possible weather issues during descent. Unfortunately we had a 150 KT tailwind and only short mileages between fixes. We made SACCO and FIMBO at the prescribed 16;000. As we approached UDUDE [required 'At or above 14;000'] we had not started further descent; still legal; however the next crossing; REXEE; was 'At 12;000' and only 7.5 NM away. The pilot not flying noticed the problem and brought it to pilot flying's attention. We then requested relief on the crossing and were cleared to simply descend to and maintain the altitude. ATC was surprised and wanted to know what happened. No clearance was actually violated; however intent was not met.We needed to brief the approach earlier and be more aware of descent requirements. We should also have used the available VNAV mode (the aircraft was INS/VNAV equipped).

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	1054339
Time
Date	201212
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	BWI.Airport
State Reference	MD
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	MD-80 Series (DC-9-80) Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Descent
Route In Use	STAR RAVNN THREE
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Other / Unknown
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Altitude Crossing Restriction Not Met Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

An md-80 flight crew descending 'via' the ravnn RNAV STAR to bwi with strong tailwinds was unable to comply with the 'at 12;000' crossing restriction at rexee. ATC provided the necessary relief.