Air carrier first officer and D10 TRACON controller reported that a clearance to descend was given; ...

Attributes
ACN	1421416
Time
Date	201702
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	DFW.Airport
State Reference	TX
Environment
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Widebody Transport
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Initial Approach
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	First Officer Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Person 2
Function	Approach
Qualification	Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Experience	Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 25
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Altitude Undershoot Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

Narrative:

Approach cleared us to a fix on the ILS. There was a break in his instructions which we thought was due to another aircraft trying to talk on the same frequency. The second part included a descent clearance which we were unsure it was meant for us. We stayed at our last assigned altitude and tried to receive confirmation on his instructions. Several calls were made; but the controller did not respond due to other aircraft talking. The frequency was super busy and then the controller scolded us for not descending and gave us a delay vector.it seemed that there were too many airplanes on the frequency. Everyone was trying to talk over everybody else and everyone was getting frustrated.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air carrier First Officer and D10 TRACON Controller reported that a clearance to descend was given; but due to a congested radio frequency the instruction was misunderstood.

Narrative: Approach cleared us to a fix on the ILS. There was a break in his instructions which we thought was due to another aircraft trying to talk on the same frequency. The second part included a descent clearance which we were unsure it was meant for us. We stayed at our last assigned altitude and tried to receive confirmation on his instructions. Several calls were made; but the controller did not respond due to other aircraft talking. The frequency was super busy and then the controller scolded us for not descending and gave us a delay vector.It seemed that there were too many airplanes on the frequency. Everyone was trying to talk over everybody else and everyone was getting frustrated.

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.

Air carrier first officer and D10 TRACON controller reported that a clearance to descend was given; but due to a congested radio frequency the instruction was misunderstood.