Narrative:

On a ILS approach; we nearly lost our course (within one dot) to the south of course; not on the transgression side. The controller decided to vector us around and re-sequence us; I am assuming because he thought we were not correcting; or that we did not have time to stabilize before the final approach fix. He asked us if everything was okay and we let him know that we had gotten really busy and apologized; to which he said; it's okay; no problem. No other airplanes were deviated or required to change course. I am submitting this report because I feel that having to be re-sequenced creates a possible safety issue; as well as higher workloads to controllers in already busy airspace.leading up to this event; was the airplane we received with a deferred APU that caused about a three hour delay; due to the airport not having their air cart charged for start. After takeoff as we got closer to [our destination]; near the end of our descent; the airport had been landing west and was switched to landing east. As the pilot flying; I had to re-brief the approach and landing; as well as get setup; and the radio calls were very frequent with instructions for altitude changes; headings; etc. Captain decided to call company and request an air start cart so the plane didn't cause another stressful delay for the next passengers and crew. He made this call well before our base turn; but was delayed by ops much longer than he had anticipated. As he came back up with me on radio one; I was intercepting the final approach course with white needles because I was shown this to be smoother entry for the passengers; before going to approach mode once established. This is where things became very confusing. The captain came back on as I was finishing a response to call from approach control; and he was apologizing for the delay with ops; and then he was flustered with my setup; I think maybe I was doing the approach differently than he did; because maybe he wanted green needles instead of white because it was IMC; I don't know for sure. But then he pressed one of the buttons on the flight control panel; I assumed it was the heading mode; but I don't remember verifying this on the flight mode annunciator (FMA); a huge mistake. And so I went to green needles and then approach mode but instead we went into roll mode; I believe. Of course; I knew of this problem; but there was a lot going on; with rapid crew communication; radio calls; and automation management; my attention was spread very thin. I honestly cannot say what exactly happened with the automation because I was task saturated; which is making my recollection very difficult to make. I will stand by whatever the captain says happened; as he has much more experience than I; and I am sure he was able to see things much more clearly than I. I understand that verification of flight mode status on the FMA every single time; without fail; is required to assure that airplane is in the appropriate mode to avoid deviating from course in the future. This is a very important step in the approach setup; and a very valuable lesson for me to have learned firsthand. I am extremely thankful that I gained this experience on the non-transgression side of the approach; as it could have just as easily have happened on the transgression side of the approach. I realize it is my very strong duty to keep the airplane on its intended course and I vow to verify the flight mode on the FMA every time that I change flight modes. I also will strive to communicate my intentions much more clearly with the pilot monitoring about my intended techniques for final approach course interception; or in any other phase of flight; as well as verify any control inputs that the other pilot might make before I add my own inputs.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: CRJ-200 flight crew reported that on an ILS approach they nearly lost their course.

Narrative: On a ILS approach; we nearly lost our course (within one dot) to the South of course; not on the transgression side. The controller decided to vector us around and re-sequence us; I am assuming because he thought we were not correcting; or that we did not have time to stabilize before the final approach fix. He asked us if everything was okay and we let him know that we had gotten really busy and apologized; to which he said; it's okay; no problem. No other airplanes were deviated or required to change course. I am submitting this report because I feel that having to be re-sequenced creates a possible safety issue; as well as higher workloads to controllers in already busy airspace.Leading up to this event; was the airplane we received with a deferred APU that caused about a three hour delay; due to the airport not having their air cart charged for start. After takeoff as we got closer to [our destination]; near the end of our descent; the airport had been landing west and was switched to landing east. As the pilot flying; I had to re-brief the approach and landing; as well as get setup; and the radio calls were very frequent with instructions for altitude changes; headings; etc. Captain decided to call company and request an air start cart so the plane didn't cause another stressful delay for the next passengers and crew. He made this call well before our base turn; but was delayed by ops much longer than he had anticipated. As he came back up with me on radio one; I was intercepting the final approach course with white needles because I was shown this to be smoother entry for the passengers; before going to approach mode once established. This is where things became very confusing. The captain came back on as I was finishing a response to call from approach control; and he was apologizing for the delay with ops; and then he was flustered with my setup; I think maybe I was doing the approach differently than he did; because maybe he wanted green needles instead of white because it was IMC; I don't know for sure. But then he pressed one of the buttons on the Flight Control Panel; I assumed it was the heading mode; but I don't remember verifying this on the Flight Mode Annunciator (FMA); a huge mistake. And so I went to green needles and then approach mode but instead we went into roll mode; I believe. Of course; I knew of this problem; but there was a lot going on; with rapid crew communication; radio calls; and automation management; my attention was spread very thin. I honestly cannot say what exactly happened with the automation because I was task saturated; which is making my recollection very difficult to make. I will stand by whatever the captain says happened; as he has much more experience than I; and I am sure he was able to see things much more clearly than I. I understand that verification of flight mode status on the FMA every single time; without fail; is required to assure that airplane is in the appropriate mode to avoid deviating from course in the future. This is a very important step in the approach setup; and a very valuable lesson for me to have learned firsthand. I am extremely thankful that I gained this experience on the non-transgression side of the approach; as it could have just as easily have happened on the transgression side of the approach. I realize it is my very strong duty to keep the airplane on its intended course and I vow to verify the flight mode on the FMA every time that I change flight modes. I also will strive to communicate my intentions much more clearly with the pilot monitoring about my intended techniques for final approach course interception; or in any other phase of flight; as well as verify any control inputs that the other pilot might make before I add my own inputs.

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.