An air carrier pilot reported that a last minute change to RNAV STAR resulted in an altitude deviati...

Attributes
ACN	1343892
Time
Date	201603
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	DEN.Airport
State Reference	CO
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Large Transport
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Descent
Route In Use	STAR CREDE3
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 222 Flight Crew Type 10000
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Altitude Overshoot Deviation - Altitude Crossing Restriction Not Met Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Inflight Event / Encounter CFTT / CFIT

Narrative:

Upon checking in with denver approach; we were told to descend via the TELLR2 arrival. We set the descent limit of 11;000 feet in the MCP. At or near crede waypoint; ATC issued us a STAR change. We were told to change to the CREDE3 and to descend via the arrival. The bottom descent limit of 11;000 feet was left in the MCP window as appropriate. We reprogramed the FMC with the new arrival; as well as the expected RNAV approach; and runway.due to the last minute changes and the rush to comply with ATC requests; we did not notice that the MCP descent mode dropped out of VNAV and defaulted to vertical speed. After passing tlrid waypoint; ATC advised us to maintain 12;000 feet and stated that our correct altitude should be 13;000 feet prior to mogls waypoint. It was then that we noticed that we were in vertical speed mode and 1;000 feet below the MDA of 13;000 feet.after passing longs waypoint; we were cleared to descend to 11;000 feet and cleared for the rvav (rnp) Z 16R approach. We complied and landed without further incident.the last minute and quick change of stars created a rushed environment. It indirectly caused us to miss the appropriate descent mode. Closer attention should have been made on my part to recognize the deviation of automation as well as aircraft position.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An air carrier pilot reported that a last minute change to RNAV STAR resulted in an altitude deviation.

Narrative: Upon checking in with Denver Approach; we were told to descend via the TELLR2 Arrival. We set the descent limit of 11;000 feet in the MCP. At or near CREDE waypoint; ATC issued us a STAR change. We were told to change to the CREDE3 and to descend via the arrival. The bottom descent limit of 11;000 feet was left in the MCP window as appropriate. We reprogramed the FMC with the new arrival; as well as the expected RNAV approach; and runway.Due to the last minute changes and the rush to comply with ATC requests; we did not notice that the MCP descent mode dropped out of VNAV and defaulted to vertical speed. After passing TLRID waypoint; ATC advised us to maintain 12;000 feet and stated that our correct altitude should be 13;000 feet prior to MOGLS waypoint. It was then that we noticed that we were in vertical speed mode and 1;000 feet below the MDA of 13;000 feet.After passing LONGS waypoint; we were cleared to descend to 11;000 feet and cleared for the RVAV (RNP) Z 16R Approach. We complied and landed without further incident.The last minute and quick change of STARs created a rushed environment. It indirectly caused us to miss the appropriate descent mode. Closer attention should have been made on my part to recognize the deviation of automation as well as aircraft position.

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.