Narrative:

As we were returning to sjc; oakland center gave us direct troxx; which I recognized as a waypoint on the silcn one arrival. We pulled the jeppesen chart up on the multifunction display (mfd) to begin our arrival planning. Center asked us for our best forward speed (.68 mach); and we heard other planes being asked to slow for the arrival. While descending but still in the flight levels we were given the silcn one arrival as expected; and told to descend via the arrival.between silcn and vlley; we were given the 'west transition'. The jeppesen plate was zoomed in enough that the east and west transition notes were off the screen. Since the transition through baxby and aplle was to the west of the one through guuyy to klide; we both assumed that was the one we were to take. On the other hand; from previous experience into san jose; I knew that klide was the normal way to get to rw 31L; which is what we expected. We discussed the situation; and I assumed that we were being taken off the normal arrival because we were slower than the people behind us. Neither of us felt comfortable about this concept and after passing baxby we started questioning our choice; especially after hearing the other planes that had been asked to slow down also being given the west transition. At this point the pilot not flying (PNF) called norcal (we'd been transferred to norcal earlier) and asked it we should be on the transition to klide or the one to zorsa. The reply was; of course; the one to klide - norcal then gave us direct klide.we could easily have continued on the wrong transition; and followed an inappropriate descent profile as well as the wrong course. In retrospect; we should have clarified the transition question before arriving at vlley by asking if the transition was the one through klide or zorsa; and should have checked the zoom on the arrival chart to make sure we had seen the entire arrival. From a human factors perspective; calling a transition that is on the west side of the chart the east transition; and on the east side of the chart the west transition is asking for problems. And we found them.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: CE-525 flight crew landing SJC is cleared via the SILCN1 west transition; which visually is on the East side of the chart causing confusion and the wrong transition to be chosen. One suggests that the transitions should be named after the first fix after the last common fix to eliminate confusion.

Narrative: As we were returning to SJC; Oakland Center gave us Direct TROXX; which I recognized as a waypoint on the SILCN ONE arrival. We pulled the Jeppesen chart up on the Multifunction Display (MFD) to begin our arrival planning. Center asked us for our best forward speed (.68 mach); and we heard other planes being asked to slow for the arrival. While descending but still in the flight levels we were given the SILCN ONE arrival as expected; and told to descend via the arrival.Between SILCN and VLLEY; we were given the 'West transition'. The Jeppesen plate was zoomed in enough that the EAST and West Transition notes were off the screen. Since the transition through BAXBY and APLLE was to the west of the one through GUUYY to KLIDE; we both assumed that was the one we were to take. On the other hand; from previous experience into San Jose; I knew that KLIDE was the normal way to get to RW 31L; which is what we expected. We discussed the situation; and I assumed that we were being taken off the normal arrival because we were slower than the people behind us. Neither of us felt comfortable about this concept and after passing BAXBY we started questioning our choice; especially after hearing the other planes that had been asked to slow down also being given the West Transition. At this point the Pilot Not Flying (PNF) called NORCAL (we'd been transferred to NORCAL earlier) and asked it we should be on the transition to KLIDE or the one to ZORSA. The reply was; of course; the one to KLIDE - NORCAL then gave us direct KLIDE.We could easily have continued on the wrong transition; and followed an inappropriate descent profile as well as the wrong course. In retrospect; we should have clarified the transition question before arriving at VLLEY by asking if the transition was the one through KLIDE or ZORSA; and should have checked the zoom on the arrival chart to make sure we had seen the entire arrival. From a human factors perspective; calling a transition that is on the west side of the chart the EAST Transition; and on the East side of the chart the WEST Transition is asking for problems. And we found them.

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.