Narrative:

I was working the luray sector at the potomac TRACON. I had just relieved another controller at the sector. Aircraft X was passing doccs waypoint level at 15;000 ft on the ELDEE4 STAR and aircraft Y was westbound at 14;000 ft approaching ldn VOR. The paths of the two aircraft were going to cross near the ldn VOR. When aircraft X was at ldn VOR I cleared it to 'descend via the ELDEE4 arrival.' at this point; aircraft 1 had passed the path of aircraft Y. Aircraft X began descending at ldn even though it should have crossed ldn and morty waypoint at 15;000 ft. This is one in way too many occurrences where air carriers have violated the altitude crossing restrictions on the ELDEE4 STAR. Had aircraft Y been airborne just 15 seconds earlier this incident would have resulted in--at a minimum--a loss of standard separation between two aircraft. The ELDEE4 STAR is flawed. There have been at least 40 pilot deviations; just like this one; over the past 18 months. About an hour after the incident my supervisor told me that the ARTCC operations error detection program (oedp) alerted to the close proximity of the two aircraft. The supervisor also suggested to the TRACON operations manager that we suspend the 'descend via' procedure on the ELDEE4 STAR because; in his words; it's obviously broken. I agree. The next airplane that entered the luray sector on the eldee STAR also violated the 15;000 ft altitude restriction.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: PCT Controller voiced concern regarding the multiple flight crew violations regarding crossing restrictions on the ELDEE4 STAR; suggesting suspension of the procedure until some type of resolution is agreed upon between ATC and the user.

Narrative: I was working the LURAY Sector at the Potomac TRACON. I had just relieved another Controller at the sector. Aircraft X was passing DOCCS waypoint level at 15;000 FT on the ELDEE4 STAR and Aircraft Y was westbound at 14;000 FT approaching LDN VOR. The paths of the two aircraft were going to cross near the LDN VOR. When Aircraft X was at LDN VOR I cleared it to 'descend via the ELDEE4 Arrival.' At this point; aircraft 1 had passed the path of Aircraft Y. Aircraft X began descending at LDN even though it should have crossed LDN and MORTY waypoint at 15;000 FT. This is one in way too many occurrences where air carriers have violated the altitude crossing restrictions on the ELDEE4 STAR. Had Aircraft Y been airborne just 15 seconds earlier this incident would have resulted in--at a minimum--a loss of standard separation between two aircraft. The ELDEE4 STAR is flawed. There have been at least 40 pilot deviations; just like this one; over the past 18 months. About an hour after the incident my supervisor told me that the ARTCC Operations Error Detection Program (OEDP) alerted to the close proximity of the two aircraft. The supervisor also suggested to the TRACON Operations Manager that we suspend the 'descend via' procedure on the ELDEE4 STAR because; in his words; it's obviously broken. I agree. The next airplane that entered the LURAY sector on the ELDEE STAR also violated the 15;000 FT altitude restriction.

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.