A320 first officer reports that when the hhood 2 RNAV arrival to pdx landing runways 28L and right i...

Narrative:

The airbus FMGC; had it been followed during the hhood 2 RNAV arrival into pdx; would have descended the aircraft below the published MEA. The FMGC was checked prior to descent. With the proper 280 knot descent programmed; the FMGC would have descended the aircraft below the published MEA of 7200 feet between hhood and blrun. It is a continuing problem with the programming of the airbus FMGC; it is trying to set up to handle a 'too steep path' alert after shafr; and thinks the aircraft needs to be at 7090 feet at blrun in order to meet the later requirements. This has not been a formal ATC issue because pdx approach normally starts vectoring us off the arrival and assigning a minimum radar vector altitude (which is different than an MEA) prior to reaching blrun. However...if we had descended via the RNAV arrival all the way to shafr and beyond; we would have been below the MEA. This is a continuing airbus problem that needs to be addressed by the fleet and the FAA. It is a potential violation or accident waiting to happen.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A320 First Officer reports that when the HHOOD 2 RNAV arrival to PDX landing Runways 28L and R is entered in the FMGC; the MEA of 7200 feet between HHOOD and BLRUN is not honored. Manual entries to the FMGC are required to keep the aircraft above 7200 feet until after BLRUN.

Narrative: The Airbus FMGC; had it been followed during the HHOOD 2 RNAV arrival into PDX; would have descended the aircraft below the published MEA. The FMGC was checked prior to descent. With the proper 280 knot descent programmed; the FMGC would have descended the aircraft below the published MEA of 7200 feet between HHOOD and BLRUN. It is a continuing problem with the programming of the Airbus FMGC; it is trying to set up to handle a 'TOO STEEP PATH' alert after SHAFR; and thinks the aircraft needs to be at 7090 feet at BLRUN in order to meet the later requirements. This has not been a formal ATC issue because PDX approach normally starts vectoring us off the arrival and assigning a Minimum Radar Vector Altitude (which is different than an MEA) prior to reaching BLRUN. However...if we had descended via the RNAV arrival all the way to SHAFR and beyond; we would have been below the MEA. This is a continuing Airbus problem that needs to be addressed by the fleet and the FAA. It is a potential violation or accident waiting to happen.

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.

Attributes
ACN	1194286
Time
Date	201408
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZSE.ARTCC
State Reference	WA
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	A320
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Descent
Route In Use	STAR HHOOD 2
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	FMS/FMC
Person 1
Function	First Officer Pilot Not Flying
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 225 Flight Crew Total 16000 Flight Crew Type 3000
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe

A320 first officer reports that when the hhood 2 RNAV arrival to pdx landing runways 28L and right is entered in the FMGC; the MEA of 7200 feet between hhood and blrun is not honored. Manual entries to the FMGC are required to keep the aircraft above 7200 feet until after blrun.