An airbus crew on the phx maier 5 noticed they were at 6;200 ft prior to kards after the altitude bu...

Attributes
ACN	1113774
Time
Date	201309
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	P50.TRACON
State Reference	AZ
Environment
Flight Conditions	Marginal
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Airbus 318/319/320/321 Undifferentiated
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Descent
Route In Use	STAR MAIER 5
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	MCP
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying First Officer
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Person 2
Function	Pilot Not Flying Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Deviation - Altitude Overshoot Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence

Narrative:

Descended below star altitude on the maier 5 arrival. Lost of thunderstorms and cells. I was given descend via clearance for different times and then heading and altitudes due to weather. The last descend via given I thought I managed the altitude by pressing the altitude button; although I'm not sure if that's the case. We were looking outside a lot due to clouds and heavy ran near our course. We realized we blew through our altitude and notified approach control. Approach said climb and maintain 7;000 ft; which was our next fix 5 miles away. We climbed to 7;000 ft at the fix and began to descend via again; which defied the maintain 7;000 ft clearance. I think being given the descend via clearance so many different times got stuck in our heads so that once we crossed kards at 7;000 ft we inappropriately started a descent. This event occurred because of weather; workload; and repeatedly getting different clearances to descend via followed by heading and altitude. I should have caught the autopilot busting the altitude; but failed to catch it.I should have monitored the autopilot better instead of looking outside so much.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An Airbus crew on the PHX MAIER 5 noticed they were at 6;200 FT prior to KARDS after the ALT button failed to engage VNAV and while climbing to 7;000 FT were told by ATC to maintain 7;000 FT but became confused and again began a descent after KARDS.

Narrative: Descended below star altitude on the Maier 5 arrival. Lost of thunderstorms and cells. I was given descend via clearance for different times and then heading and altitudes due to weather. The last descend via given I thought I managed the altitude by pressing the ALT button; although I'm not sure if that's the case. We were looking outside a lot due to clouds and heavy ran near our course. We realized we blew through our altitude and notified Approach Control. Approach said climb and maintain 7;000 FT; which was our next fix 5 miles away. We climbed to 7;000 FT at the fix and began to descend via again; which defied the maintain 7;000 FT clearance. I think being given the descend via clearance so many different times got stuck in our heads so that once we crossed KARDS at 7;000 FT we inappropriately started a descent. This event occurred because of weather; workload; and repeatedly getting different clearances to descend via followed by heading and altitude. I should have caught the autopilot busting the altitude; but failed to catch it.I should have monitored the autopilot better instead of looking outside so much.

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 airbus crew on the phx maier 5 noticed they were at 6;200 ft prior to kards after the altitude button failed to engage VNAV and while climbing to 7;000 ft were told by ATC to maintain 7;000 ft but became confused and again began a descent after kards.