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Corporate jet flight crew describes and altitude deviation during the vanze 1 arrival to mem; due to distractions from the passengers and the inability of the FMS to fly the vertical profile. The altitude alerter is set to bottom altitude for the procedure for standardization and provides no warning of the deviation from the profile.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1210089 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201410 |
| Local Time Of Day | 1201-1800 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | ZME.ARTCC |
| State Reference | TN |
| Environment | |
| Flight Conditions | IMC |
| Light | Daylight |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | Learjet 45 |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 91 |
| Flight Phase | Descent |
| Route In Use | STAR VANZE1 |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Component | |
| Aircraft Component | FMS/FMC |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | First Officer Pilot Flying |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Commercial Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Multiengine |
| Experience | Flight Crew Last 90 Days 68 Flight Crew Total 3245 Flight Crew Type 68 |
| Person 2 | |
| Function | Captain Pilot Not Flying |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Deviation - Altitude Crossing Restriction Not Met Deviation - Altitude Overshoot Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Deviation - Procedural Clearance |
Narrative:
After avoiding weather in the memphis area we were cleared direct to the vanze intersection and later cleared to descend via the SID. The single FMS in the aircraft is a UNS1C (universal) which does not have the capability to intercept the VNAV and fly the vertical track throughout the SID. Our company has another aircraft which we fly much more often that has two UNS1Es that automatically adjusts for the various vertical descents between fixes. Since it is flown more often; and in an effort to promote standardization; when a 'descend via' clearance is received the altitude select is scrolled to the lowest altitude on the SID. We followed this procedure and monitored and adjusted accordingly until around the larue intersection. I was the pilot flying and we were in IMC conditions. The captain switched frequencies to check the ATIS for updated weather. We had several young children on board who were screaming and causing quite a scene in the back. We were both distracted and ATC called with a climb immediately to 7000 feet. We did not get any TCAS warnings or RA's. We were told caution wake for a nearby [heavy] jet. We did not experience any wake. I know that the captain and director of operations are planning a new procedure for 'descend vias' with the aircraft so that there will be an extra layer of protection to an altitude alerter. I can assure that I will never let this happen again on my part.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: Corporate jet flight crew describes and altitude deviation during the VANZE 1 arrival to MEM; due to distractions from the passengers and the inability of the FMS to fly the vertical profile. The altitude alerter is set to bottom altitude for the procedure for standardization and provides no warning of the deviation from the profile.
Narrative: After avoiding weather in the Memphis area we were cleared direct to the Vanze intersection and later cleared to descend via the SID. The single FMS in the aircraft is a UNS1C (Universal) which does not have the capability to intercept the VNAV and fly the vertical track throughout the SID. Our company has another aircraft which we fly much more often that has two UNS1Es that automatically adjusts for the various vertical descents between fixes. since it is flown more often; and in an effort to promote standardization; when a 'descend via' clearance is received the altitude select is scrolled to the lowest altitude on the SID. We followed this procedure and monitored and adjusted accordingly until around the Larue intersection. I was the pilot flying and we were in IMC conditions. The Captain switched frequencies to check the ATIS for updated weather. We had several young children on board who were screaming and causing quite a scene in the back. We were both distracted and ATC called with a climb immediately to 7000 feet. We did not get any TCAS warnings or RA's. We were told caution wake for a nearby [heavy] jet. We did not experience any wake. I know that the Captain and Director of Operations are planning a new procedure for 'descend vias' with the aircraft so that there will be an extra layer of protection to an altitude alerter. I can assure that I will never let this happen again on my part.
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.