Erj-175 flight crew reported deviating from charted altitude on VOR approach to jfk runway 13L; citi...

Attributes
ACN	1259114
Time
Date	201505
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	JFK.Airport
State Reference	NY
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	EMB ERJ 170/175 ER/LR
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Initial Approach
Flight Plan	IFR
Aircraft 2
Make Model Name	Heavy Transport
Flight Phase	Final Approach
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	First Officer Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Person 2
Function	Pilot Not Flying Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Altitude Excursion From Assigned Altitude Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Inflight Event / Encounter Wake Vortex Encounter

Narrative:

On approach into jfk VOR rwy 13L we crossed asalt at 3000 feet. I began the descent to cross cri at 1500 feet; but got distracted looking for the lead in lights. This was my first time on this approach and I was worried about missing the lights. The captain noticed that we would be high crossing cri; I used the tcs (touch control steering) function to take control of the aircraft and increase descent rate. We may have been about 100 feet high over cri; but at no time was the approach unstable. Earlier in the approach we experienced moderate wake turbulence from a heavy aircraft ahead of us and the captain said that at the time we were approaching cri; he was attempting to regain visual contact with that aircraft so we could avoid their wake throughout the rest of the approach. The rest of the approach and landing were uneventful. Maintain hyper vigilance on complex approaches such as this one. Using flch to get down to 1500 feet instead of a fpa (flight path angle) would also have avoided this occurrence. Also; being able to use VNAV would greatly help on this approach.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ERJ-175 flight crew reported deviating from charted altitude on VOR Approach to JFK RWY 13L; citing wake turbulence and possible FMC mode selection errors as contributing factors.

Narrative: On approach into JFK VOR Rwy 13L we crossed ASALT at 3000 feet. I began the descent to cross CRI at 1500 feet; but got distracted looking for the lead in lights. This was my first time on this approach and I was worried about missing the lights. The captain noticed that we would be high crossing CRI; I used the TCS (Touch Control Steering) function to take control of the aircraft and increase descent rate. We may have been about 100 feet high over CRI; but at no time was the approach unstable. Earlier in the approach we experienced moderate wake turbulence from a heavy aircraft ahead of us and the Captain said that at the time we were approaching CRI; he was attempting to regain visual contact with that aircraft so we could avoid their wake throughout the rest of the approach. The rest of the approach and landing were uneventful. Maintain hyper vigilance on complex approaches such as this one. Using FLCH to get down to 1500 feet instead of a FPA (Flight Path Angle) would also have avoided this occurrence. Also; being able to use VNAV would greatly help on this approach.

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.

Erj-175 flight crew reported deviating from charted altitude on VOR approach to jfk runway 13L; citing wake turbulence and possible FMC mode selection errors as contributing factors.