Air carrier arrival to rdu was questioned by the TRACON regarding the assigned 'runway transition'; ...

Narrative:

Washington center cleared us to descend via the malnr arrival landing southwest. Note 6 on the arrival states that the 'landing southwest' transition requires selection of runway 23R. Since 23R at rdu was closed; we questioned ATC as to whether we should still fly this arrival and transition. As stated on the approach plate; and as repeated by ATC; fly the arrival as assigned and rdu approach will assign the runway. Accordingly; we flew the 23R arrival; which is a westerly arrival. Rdu approach questioned us as to why we were flying the 23R arrival versus the 23L arrival. Called and talked with the supervisor upon arrival who said it wasn't a problem and ATC should not have issued that clearance. He stated there was no problem except they expected us to fly the 23L transition. That is actually what we expected to and is why we questioned ATC. It did cause confusion with rdu approach control.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air carrier arrival to RDU was questioned by the TRACON regarding the assigned 'runway transition'; the reporter indicating the Center clearance coupled with the written notes on the STAR caused the confusion.

Narrative: Washington Center cleared us to descend via the MALNR Arrival landing southwest. Note 6 on the arrival states that the 'landing southwest' transition requires selection of Runway 23R. Since 23R at RDU was closed; we questioned ATC as to whether we should still fly this arrival and transition. As stated on the approach plate; and as repeated by ATC; fly the arrival as assigned and RDU Approach will assign the runway. Accordingly; we flew the 23R arrival; which is a westerly arrival. RDU Approach questioned us as to why we were flying the 23R arrival versus the 23L arrival. Called and talked with the Supervisor upon arrival who said it wasn't a problem and ATC should not have issued that clearance. He stated there was no problem except they expected us to fly the 23L transition. That is actually what we expected to and is why we questioned ATC. It did cause confusion with RDU Approach Control.

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	1125302
Time
Date	201310
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZDC.ARTCC
State Reference	VA
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737-300
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Descent
Route In Use	STAR MALNR
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 144
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Deviation - Track / Heading All Types

Air carrier arrival to rdu was questioned by the TRACON regarding the assigned 'runway transition'; the reporter indicating the center clearance coupled with the written notes on the STAR caused the confusion.