Narrative:

Flight ZZZ - las. At FL360 we were given clearance to cross 85 miles of pgs VOR at FL300. I previously programmed the arrival without an approach; and verified the published crossing restrictions. We acknowledged the clearance; and even re-verified the altitude. I reprogrammed the FMS; and this time added the expected approach. My first officer then noted that some of the crossing restrictions on the arrival were no longer on the legs page. I figured it changed when I put the approach in; so I re-selected the arrival and approach; and verified all the constraints on the arrival were present. I did not check to ensure the restriction off of pgs was still there. I then was checking the NOTAMS for las and was trying to decipher a couple of them. I asked my first officer for help and he was digging through his manuals noting the construction in las. About this time center asked us if we were going to start down anytime soon. For the first time in my flying career I looked at the FMS and couldn't believe what I saw: we were about 100 miles east of pgs; still at FL360 and the top of descent was close to pgs -- the FL300 restriction was not present. I didn't want to believe my eyes; but the restriction at FL300 was not there. The altitude window on the autopilot panel showed FL300; but the FMS showed no such restriction. I told the first officer to tell center we would be a little high; he did; and the controller told us to be below FL340 in less than 2 minutes. I set up the fastest descent I could while being mindful of our passengers and crew. I selected flight level change; auto throttles off; throttles to idle; speed brakes out; and a mach number just shy of vmo. We came down fast and I noted out loud we made the restriction. Shortly thereafter; the controller gave us a frequency change and we heard him chuckling. We thought he was chuckling in disbelief that we got down so fast. If the controller hadn't questioned us; the FMS would have taken us down as it was programmed to do. We both missed the crossing was not in the box after I reprogrammed the FMS a second time. Then we both got wrapped up trying to make sense of several poorly written NOTAMS. Of course; this was at the end of a fairly long day. I should have researched the NOTAMS earlier; although we still had plenty of time; or I should have had the first officer look them up while I was flying. I should have re-verified all of the restrictions in the FMS.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B767 crew was distracted while reprogramming LAS FMS arrival restrictions that dropped out and at the same time reading poorly written NOTAMS. These distractions caused the flight crew to make a rapid descent in order to make the restrictions.

Narrative: Flight ZZZ - LAS. At FL360 we were given clearance to cross 85 miles of PGS VOR at FL300. I previously programmed the arrival without an approach; and verified the published crossing restrictions. We acknowledged the clearance; and even re-verified the altitude. I reprogrammed the FMS; and this time added the expected approach. My first officer then noted that some of the crossing restrictions on the arrival were no longer on the legs page. I figured it changed when I put the approach in; so I re-selected the arrival and approach; and verified all the constraints on the arrival were present. I did not check to ensure the restriction off of PGS was still there. I then was checking the NOTAMS for LAS and was trying to decipher a couple of them. I asked my First Officer for help and he was digging through his manuals noting the construction in LAS. About this time Center asked us if we were going to start down anytime soon. For the first time in my flying career I looked at the FMS and couldn't believe what I saw: we were about 100 miles east of PGS; still at FL360 and the top of descent was close to PGS -- the FL300 restriction was not present. I didn't want to believe my eyes; but the restriction at FL300 was not there. The altitude window on the autopilot panel showed FL300; but the FMS showed no such restriction. I told the First Officer to tell Center we would be a little high; he did; and the controller told us to be below FL340 in less than 2 minutes. I set up the fastest descent I could while being mindful of our passengers and crew. I selected flight level change; auto throttles off; throttles to idle; speed brakes out; and a mach number just shy of VMO. We came down fast and I noted out loud we made the restriction. Shortly thereafter; the controller gave us a frequency change and we heard him chuckling. We thought he was chuckling in disbelief that we got down so fast. If the controller hadn't questioned us; the FMS would have taken us down as it was programmed to do. We both missed the crossing was not in the box after I reprogrammed the FMS a second time. Then we both got wrapped up trying to make sense of several poorly written NOTAMS. Of course; this was at the end of a fairly long day. I should have researched the NOTAMS earlier; although we still had plenty of time; or I should have had the FO look them up while I was flying. I should have re-verified all of the restrictions in the FMS.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.