An A319 flight crew suffered an altitude deviation while descending on the ivane RNAV STAR to clt bu...

Narrative:

The first officer was flying the leg and was descending on the ivane RNAV STAR to clt. The ATIS advised landing south; so the first officer briefed the arrival and the south transition and I checked all the constraints in the plan mode and everything checked fine. We started out at 17;000 ft and crossed ivane at 11;300 ft in managed mode. During this time we were handed off to charlotte approach and were again were cleared the ivane but with a north transition; a speed of 250 KTS and to expect 36C; we were expecting 36L. I then pulled the 36C plate out. When I looked up at the nav display we were below 11;000 ft (10550) about 8 NM north of gizmo which must be crossed between 11;000 ft and 13;000 ft. I instructed the first officer to stop the descent and climb back to 11;000 ft. At that point ATC told us to maintain 10;000 ft. We were then cleared to descend to 6;000 ft. ATC did ask what altitude we were showing for gizmo.I believe the reasons for this are as follows. ATC cleared us for the RNAV arrival but also; however; assigned a speed. While we stayed in a managed mode for descent we were in selected mode for speed. During the hand off to charlotte we were given another change from what we had expected; i.e. Land north with the north transition. While I thought the first officer was monitoring the aircraft he was also looking at his arrival plates to get ready to brief the north transition. Both of us should not have been reviewing our charts at the same time; there was a lack of communication. The first officer and I got along fine. The ivane 1 is almost a joke. You never really fly the full arrival without ATC changes. Even though we were cleared for the arrival ATC changed it by changing our speed. Which brings up the question; were we really ever on it? Get rid of the arrival or have ATC let us fly it.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An A319 flight crew suffered an altitude deviation while descending on the IVANE RNAV STAR to CLT but with an assigned speed; forcing them to operate their autoflight systems in a non-standard manner.

Narrative: The First Officer was flying the leg and was descending on the IVANE RNAV STAR to CLT. The ATIS advised landing south; so the First Officer briefed the arrival and the south transition and I checked all the constraints in the plan mode and everything checked fine. We started out at 17;000 FT and crossed IVANE at 11;300 FT in managed mode. During this time we were handed off to Charlotte Approach and were again were cleared the IVANE but with a north transition; a speed of 250 KTS and to expect 36C; we were expecting 36L. I then pulled the 36C plate out. When I looked up at the Nav display we were below 11;000 FT (10550) about 8 NM north of GIZMO which must be crossed between 11;000 FT and 13;000 FT. I instructed the First Officer to stop the descent and climb back to 11;000 FT. At that point ATC told us to maintain 10;000 FT. We were then cleared to descend to 6;000 FT. ATC did ask what altitude we were showing for GIZMO.I believe the reasons for this are as follows. ATC cleared us for the RNAV arrival but also; however; assigned a speed. While we stayed in a managed mode for descent we were in selected mode for speed. During the hand off to Charlotte we were given another change from what we had expected; i.e. land north with the North transition. While I thought the First Officer was monitoring the Aircraft he was also looking at his arrival plates to get ready to brief the north transition. Both of us should not have been reviewing our charts at the same time; there was a lack of communication. The First Officer and I got along fine. The IVANE 1 is almost a joke. You never really fly the full arrival without ATC changes. Even though we were cleared for the arrival ATC changed it by changing our speed. Which brings up the question; were we really ever on it? Get rid of the arrival or have ATC let us fly it.

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	1109871
Time
Date	201308
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	CLT.TRACON
State Reference	NC
Environment
Flight Conditions	Marginal
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	A319
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Descent
Route In Use	STAR IVANE
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	FMS/FMC
Person 1
Function	Pilot Not Flying Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Person 2
Function	First Officer Pilot Flying
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Altitude Overshoot Deviation - Procedural Clearance

An A319 flight crew suffered an altitude deviation while descending on the ivane RNAV STAR to clt but with an assigned speed; forcing them to operate their autoflight systems in a non-standard manner.