Narrative:

We received radar vectors off the lendy 6 arrival for the VOR 13L approach. We briefed the approach and verified that all points were accurate in the FMS. We were vectored east of and then south of jfk before being turned back for the approach. On vectors we were cleared on a heading of 010 to intercept the final approach course; cross asalt at 3;000; and cleared for the approach. We were cleared to asalt which would lead us to the final approach course for the approach. When I looked down asalt was no longer in the FMS; so I attempted to go direct to asalt after verifying with the captain. It appeared to be slightly behind us; and the points had cycled in the FMS so that it now read cri; dmyhl; and asalt. The captain was flying the aircraft in prof; and had anticipated that the aircraft would start down on the approach as we worked to fix the problems with the FMS. As we passed over cri we noted we were high and elected to go around. The plane had not entered the descent mode and we were not in a safe position to execute the approach because we were too high. We followed the tower's missed approach instructions and took vectors for the VOR 22L approach. We received vectors to a seven mile final on the VOR 22L approach. I told the captain I would enter a new destination (big eraser); and proceeded to enter the new approach into the FMS. I tried to latitude rev off jfk as the new destination and it would not give me a <STAR> prompt; and always asked for a new destination each time. The captain asked me to fly and attempted to load a new approach with the same difficulties. I remained at the controls while the captain manually entered the points on the VOR 22L approach. We intercepted final; hit the appropriate step down altitudes using level change; and the captain took back the airplane and landed uneventfully. Busy approach with FMS not responding as expected. Fly the airplane and do not rely solely on automation.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: MD-11 flight crew experiences an FMC anomaly during vectors for the VOR or GPS Runway 13R approach to JFK; resulting in a failure to descend in a timely manner and a missed approach. The crew is vectored for the VOR to Runway 22L; but the procedure cannot be selected from the FMC database and must be created waypoint by waypoint.

Narrative: We received radar vectors off the LENDY 6 Arrival for the VOR 13L Approach. We briefed the approach and verified that all points were accurate in the FMS. We were vectored east of and then south of JFK before being turned back for the approach. On vectors we were cleared on a heading of 010 to intercept the final approach course; cross ASALT at 3;000; and cleared for the approach. We were cleared to ASALT which would lead us to the final approach course for the approach. When I looked down ASALT was no longer in the FMS; so I attempted to go direct to ASALT after verifying with the Captain. It appeared to be slightly behind us; and the points had cycled in the FMS so that it now read CRI; DMYHL; and ASALT. The Captain was flying the aircraft in PROF; and had anticipated that the aircraft would start down on the approach as we worked to fix the problems with the FMS. As we passed over CRI we noted we were high and elected to go around. The plane had not entered the descent mode and we were not in a safe position to execute the approach because we were too high. We followed the Tower's missed approach instructions and took vectors for the VOR 22L approach. We received vectors to a seven mile final on the VOR 22L approach. I told the Captain I would enter a new destination (big eraser); and proceeded to enter the new approach into the FMS. I tried to LAT REV off JFK as the new destination and it would not give me a prompt; and always asked for a new destination each time. The Captain asked me to fly and attempted to load a new approach with the same difficulties. I remained at the controls while the Captain manually entered the points on the VOR 22L approach. We intercepted final; hit the appropriate step down altitudes using level change; and the Captain took back the airplane and landed uneventfully. Busy approach with FMS not responding as expected. Fly the airplane and do not rely solely on automation.

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.