Narrative:

Flight operated without incident until we arrived closer to chicago. On the WATSN2 arrival just over hulls started getting very busy. Assigned speed of 300 knots by ATC; instructed to descend to 9;000 feet and to expect the voglr transition to runway 27L. Began my descent and started slowing the aircraft to meet speed limitations below 10;000 feet. While configuring; was analyzing STAR chart and was confused about voglr transition. On the arrival chart; depiction simply states to proceed to cenak after voglr; then fly a heading for vectors. There is no mention of a transition for 27L. After arriving at voglr; approach contoller cleared us for voglr transition and to intercept the localizer for 27L. I realized at that point that we should be tracking a 281° heading toward the localizer and the next fix of nrmah. I tried deleteing cenak from the flight plan but it was to late. We overshot the localizer and I immediately adjusted the heading to reintercept the final approach course from the north side. While reintercepting; the controller simply broadcasted over the radio that we flew the STAR/transition wrong. In a year or more that I have been flying into ord; this has been the first occasion that I have ever received or even heard this clearance. This does not of course relieve me from the obligation of understanding the charts. However; if the STAR chart had a better depiction specifically on it; this would remedy some confusion. And perhaps if the 27L app plate also has a slightly different setup to show the transition; (ie; voglr was not nearly off the edge of the paper) this would help. After attempting to delete cenak from the flight plan; I realized this was simply the wrong way to go about what I wanted the airplane to do. By then however we were already north of the course. I may be way off base but like I mentioned earlier; for years that I have been operating into chicago I don't think I have ever heard fly the volgr transition for 27L. After the controller told me how I botched the approach; truthfully it seemed like he was seeing how many guys he could 'catch in the trap' so to speak. Every day; you will get controllers simply instructing you to fly a certain heading and intercept the final approach course. Instead of trying to delete certain fixes out of the FMS; it is obviously more prudent to fly specific parameters and then clean up the box afterwards as I believe in this case.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A crew flying the ORD WATSN 2 RNAV VOLGR transition to ILS Runway 27L failed to selected the 281° heading at WATSN to intercept the localizer because the RNAV procedure did not indicate the transition. The transition was only on the ILS 27L chart.

Narrative: Flight operated without incident until we arrived closer to Chicago. On the WATSN2 Arrival just over HULLS started getting very busy. Assigned speed of 300 knots by ATC; instructed to descend to 9;000 feet and to expect the VOGLR transition to Runway 27L. Began my descent and started slowing the aircraft to meet speed limitations below 10;000 feet. While configuring; was analyzing STAR chart and was confused about VOGLR Transition. On the Arrival chart; depiction simply states to proceed to CENAK after VOGLR; then fly a heading for vectors. There is no mention of a transition for 27L. After arriving at VOGLR; Approach Contoller Cleared us for VOGLR Transition and to intercept the Localizer for 27L. I realized at that point that we should be tracking a 281° heading toward the Localizer and the next fix of NRMAH. I tried deleteing CENAK from the flight plan but it was to late. We overshot the Localizer and I immediately adjusted the heading to reintercept the final approach course from the North side. While reintercepting; the controller simply broadcasted over the radio that we flew the STAR/Transition wrong. In a year or more that I have been flying into ORD; this has been the first occasion that I have ever received or even heard this clearance. This does not of course relieve me from the obligation of understanding the charts. However; if the STAR Chart had a better depiction specifically on it; this would remedy some confusion. And perhaps if the 27L App plate also has a slightly different setup to show the transition; (ie; VOGLR was not nearly off the edge of the paper) this would help. After attempting to delete CENAK from the flight plan; I realized this was simply the wrong way to go about what I wanted the airplane to do. By then however we were already North of the course. I may be way off base but like I mentioned earlier; for years that I have been operating into Chicago I don't think I have ever heard Fly the VOLGR Transition for 27L. After the Controller told me how I botched the Approach; truthfully it seemed like he was seeing how many guys he could 'catch in the trap' so to speak. Every day; you will get controllers simply instructing you to fly a certain heading and intercept the final approach course. Instead of trying to delete certain fixes out of the FMS; it is obviously more prudent to fly specific parameters and then clean up the box afterwards as I believe in this case.

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.