Narrative:

The FMC was programmed for the filed arrival. During descent a different arrival was assigned with an intermediate leveloff. Further descent was assigned and during that descent a crossing restriction for dumet was assigned to cross at 6;000 meters. PF inadvertently entered 6;000 feet into the MCP as the PNF was checking the meter conversion card and entering the restrictions into the CDU for the crossing restriction assigned. We were well above path for the restriction due to its late assignment and time required for the FMC to recalculate the vertical path. This leaves you blind to vertical path for a critical period of time. Speed was increased; spoilers used and vertical speed was engaged to target the crossing restriction with the descent arc; when speed reached target flight crew was used to protect from overspeed. Our attention was on getting the descent arc on the fix. ATC called again emphasizing to descend to cross dumet at 6;000 meters however the MCP altitude was set to 6;000 feet and the aircraft passed through the assigned altitude. After passing 6;000 meters ATC called with instructions to maintain 6;000 meters. At this point I recognized the error altitude in the MCP immediately announced that I had the airplane (because I was the first one to recognize the problem and correction was time critical) disconnected the autopilot and began a rapid climb to 6;000 meters for a manual level off. The autopilot was engaged and positive control was transferred back to the first officer and the rest of the flight was without incident. There was no loss of separation and crew communication was excellent during the correction maneuver. Selection of an arrival into zspd is very complex with some 18 pages of arrivals and a multitude of transitions for each runway. The transitions are labeled in such a way that several minutes of experimentation through trial and error are required to define the likely procedure and produce an accurate vertical profile. This requires an extraordinary length of time with one pilot heads down. Further complicating this situation is the transition from feet to meters and the added complexity of making a plastic card reference to convert meters to feet. In a dark cockpit this card is difficult to read due to font size and color selection on the card and more heads down time is given to this task. Further complicating this arrival is the occasional difficult english from ATC all adding up to a significant number of necessary duty distractions. Further; some of these arrivals are missing the published crossing restrictions requiring a close and time consuming reconciliation of the procedure entered. It would be helpful if dispatch could make a prevailing weather related decision when filing arrivals to prevent the inevitable changes required for prevailing weather dictating the runway likely in use. In this case we were filed for an arrival for the northbound runways but winds were out of the south. This was discussed both in the preflight and en-route between the first officer and [me]. We were expecting the change but it is nonetheless problematic as a descent it required almost immediately passing into the shanghai fir on this route; and others. It is frequently the case that the initial descent is initiated with a controller that cannot assign the arrival; driving the heads down changes to a position very late in the descent profile. Cockpit duty distractions contributed significantly to my failure to confirm the MCP altitude set by the PF. I am very familiar with these problems on arrival at zspd and some other airports as are most of our pilots. This was part of our discussion prior to descent. In this case the timing was just right to cause my crosscheck failure and altitude deviation.

Related reports:

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B747 flight crew reports an altitude deviation descending into ZSPD due to not converting meters to feet before entering the number into the MCP. Other difficulties operating in the Shanghai FIR and into the ZSPD airport are also discussed.

Narrative: The FMC was programmed for the filed arrival. During descent a different arrival was assigned with an intermediate leveloff. Further descent was assigned and during that descent a crossing restriction for DUMET was assigned to cross at 6;000 meters. PF inadvertently entered 6;000 feet into the MCP as the PNF was checking the meter conversion card and entering the restrictions into the CDU for the crossing restriction assigned. We were well above path for the restriction due to its late assignment and time required for the FMC to recalculate the vertical path. This leaves you blind to vertical path for a critical period of time. Speed was increased; spoilers used and vertical speed was engaged to target the crossing restriction with the descent arc; when speed reached target FLC was used to protect from overspeed. Our attention was on getting the descent arc on the fix. ATC called again emphasizing to descend to cross DUMET at 6;000 meters however the MCP altitude was set to 6;000 feet and the aircraft passed through the assigned altitude. After passing 6;000 meters ATC called with instructions to maintain 6;000 meters. At this point I recognized the error altitude in the MCP Immediately announced that I had the airplane (because I was the first one to recognize the problem and correction was time critical) disconnected the autopilot and began a rapid climb to 6;000 meters for a manual level off. The autopilot was engaged and Positive Control was transferred back to the FO and the rest of the flight was without incident. There was no loss of separation and crew communication was excellent during the correction maneuver. Selection of an Arrival into ZSPD is very complex with some 18 pages of arrivals and a multitude of transitions for each runway. The transitions are labeled in such a way that several minutes of experimentation through trial and error are required to define the likely procedure and produce an accurate vertical profile. This requires an extraordinary length of time with one pilot heads down. Further complicating this situation is the transition from feet to meters and the added complexity of making a plastic card reference to convert meters to feet. In a dark cockpit this card is difficult to read due to font size and color selection on the card and more heads down time is given to this task. Further complicating this arrival is the occasional difficult English from ATC all adding up to a significant number of necessary duty distractions. Further; some of these arrivals are missing the published crossing restrictions requiring a close and time consuming reconciliation of the procedure entered. It would be helpful if Dispatch could make a prevailing weather related decision when filing arrivals to prevent the inevitable changes required for prevailing weather dictating the runway likely in use. In this case we were filed for an arrival for the Northbound runways but winds were out of the south. This was discussed both in the preflight and en-route between the First Officer and [me]. We were expecting the change but it is nonetheless problematic as a descent it required almost immediately passing into the Shanghai FIR on this route; and others. It is frequently the case that the initial descent is initiated with a controller that cannot assign the arrival; driving the heads down changes to a position very late in the descent profile. Cockpit duty distractions contributed significantly to my failure to confirm the MCP altitude set by the PF. I am very familiar with these problems on arrival at ZSPD and some other airports as are most of our pilots. This was part of our discussion prior to descent. In this case the timing was just right to cause my crosscheck failure and altitude deviation.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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.