Air carrier misses crossing restriction while dealing with emergency.

Attributes
ACN	249389
Time
Date	199308
Day	Thu
Local Time Of Day	1201 To 1800
Place
Locale Reference	atc facility : gve
State Reference	VA
Altitude	msl bound lower : 28300 msl bound upper : 29000
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Controlling Facilities	artcc : zdc tower : gso
Operator	common carrier : air carrier
Make Model Name	Medium Large Transport, Low Wing, 2 Turbojet Eng
Flight Phase	descent other other
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Affiliation	company : air carrier
Function	flight crew : captain oversight : pic
Qualification	pilot : commercial pilot : flight engineer pilot : cfi pilot : atp pilot : instrument
Experience	flight time last 90 days : 210 flight time total : 17000 flight time type : 7000
ASRS Report	249389
Person 2
Affiliation	company : air carrier
Function	flight crew : first officer
Qualification	pilot : commercial pilot : instrument
Events
Anomaly	aircraft equipment problem : critical altitude deviation : overshoot non adherence : clearance
Independent Detector	other flight crewa
Resolutory Action	flight crew : returned to intended course or assigned course flight crew : declared emergency
Consequence	Other
Supplementary
Primary Problem	Aircraft

Narrative:

Aircraft not equipped with automatic leveloff autoplt. Emergency in progress, loss of hydraulic fluid. First officer on radio frequency with company. Captain navigating a crossing restriction on area arrival and running en route radios. Dealing with emergency, failed to see leveloff at FL290. Descended to 28300 ft and returned to FL290 immediately. Aircraft equipped with outdated autoplt requiring pilot to manually fly aircraft at 30000 ft, deal with an emergency, talk to ATC, navigation, resulted in the miss.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ACR MISSES XING RESTRICTION WHILE DEALING WITH EMER.

Narrative: ACFT NOT EQUIPPED WITH AUTO LEVELOFF AUTOPLT. EMER IN PROGRESS, LOSS OF HYD FLUID. FO ON RADIO FREQ WITH COMPANY. CAPT NAVING A XING RESTRICTION ON AREA ARR AND RUNNING ENRTE RADIOS. DEALING WITH EMER, FAILED TO SEE LEVELOFF AT FL290. DSNDED TO 28300 FT AND RETURNED TO FL290 IMMEDIATELY. ACFT EQUIPPED WITH OUTDATED AUTOPLT REQUIRING PLT TO MANUALLY FLY ACFT AT 30000 FT, DEAL WITH AN EMER, TALK TO ATC, NAV, RESULTED IN THE MISS.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2007 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.