Narrative:

Abq center was descending us into elp. The controller cleared us direct to a fix; but since we were filed /w (VOR only with rvsm); we told him we were unable. He told us to fly present heading to intercept the 060 radial off elp VOR inbound at 17;000 ft. We tuned in the elp VOR which took a minute to get the frequency and about 15 seconds for it to be received; we noticed the RMI coming in pretty quick through the 080 radial right when we received it. At this point we were at FL330 descending. We quickly initiated a steeper descent to try to make the crossing at times exceeding over 4;000 FPM descent rate. You see; 99.99% of crossing restrictions have a mileage fix or a defined point to cross at. This controller didn't give us either; just cross it at the 060 radial. Being a /w aircraft; it is impossible to calculate (distance or time) when we will actually hit that radial. This is the first time I have ever been given a clearance to make a crossing without actually having a defined point to cross; without preceding directly to that defined point; and being a /w aircraft it is impossible to judge where that point is. Plus; if that clearance point would have been extremely close to our present position at the time the clearance; the controller should have considered the altitude to lose; and asked us if we were able to make it; knowing that we didn't have a way of actually measuring our distance from the 060 radial. When we were receiving elp VOR and coming through the 080 radial with over 16;000 ft of altitude to lose. We were trying our best to make that crossing. No more than 3 minutes could have occurred from the time he gave us the crossing restriction until the time we hit the radial; and with 16;000 ft of altitude to lose that would have required a continual rate of over 5000 FPM to make the crossing! As we were approaching the crossing; we were about to call up the controller to tell him we were doing the best we could to make the crossing but it didn't seem likely. Before we could make that call he called us to let us know that we were not making his crossing. We were descending in excess of 5;000 FPM at that time! I feel that we were not given adequate time to make the crossing. Also; I don't believe that the controller should give such an obscure/nonstandard crossing scenario to aircraft that can't physically measure the distance from the crossing. We have no problem doing crossings from a mileage fix; something that we can actually measure. I don't believe it is safe (if there had been other traffic; fortunately this was for a LOA and not traffic). We were doing our best to make the crossing; and when we were realizing the radial was coming in and not able to make it; we were calling him the same time he was calling us. We continued our descent at over 5;000 FPM. Also; I believe that the recommended max rate of descent for a jet in rvsm airspace is 1;000 ft; and to adhere to this clearance we needed near 5;000 FPM; without any warning/commentary from the controller that it would be an excessive rate (and also no actual mileage fix in the clearance to let us know from the present position how far it actually was).

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Flight crew in a non-RNAV equipped LJ25 was given a clearance to intercept the ELP 060 degree radial at 17000 FT; which they were unable to comply with; the required descent rate being too high.

Narrative: ABQ Center was descending us into ELP. The controller cleared us direct to a fix; but since we were filed /w (VOR only with RVSM); we told him we were unable. He told us to fly present heading to intercept the 060 radial off ELP VOR inbound at 17;000 FT. We tuned in the ELP VOR which took a minute to get the frequency and about 15 seconds for it to be received; we noticed the RMI coming in pretty quick through the 080 radial right when we received it. At this point we were at FL330 descending. We quickly initiated a steeper descent to try to make the crossing at times exceeding over 4;000 FPM descent rate. You see; 99.99% of crossing restrictions have a mileage fix or a defined point to cross at. This Controller didn't give us either; just cross it at the 060 radial. Being a /w aircraft; it is impossible to calculate (distance OR time) when we will actually hit that radial. This is the first time I have ever been given a clearance to make a crossing without actually having a defined point to cross; without preceding directly to that defined point; and being a /w aircraft it is impossible to judge where that point is. Plus; if that clearance point would have been extremely close to our present position at the time the clearance; the controller should have considered the altitude to lose; and asked us if we were able to make it; knowing that we didn't have a way of actually measuring our distance from the 060 radial. When we were receiving ELP VOR and coming through the 080 radial with over 16;000 FT of altitude to lose. We were trying our best to make that crossing. No more than 3 minutes could have occurred from the time he gave us the crossing restriction until the time we hit the radial; and with 16;000 FT of altitude to lose that would have required a continual rate of over 5000 FPM to make the crossing! As we were approaching the crossing; we were about to call up the controller to tell him we were doing the best we could to make the crossing but it didn't seem likely. Before we could make that call he called us to let us know that we were not making his crossing. We were descending in excess of 5;000 FPM at that time! I feel that we were not given adequate time to make the crossing. Also; I don't believe that the Controller should give such an obscure/nonstandard crossing scenario to aircraft that can't physically measure the distance from the crossing. We have NO problem doing crossings from a mileage fix; something that we can actually measure. I don't believe it is safe (if there had been other traffic; fortunately this was for a LOA and not traffic). We were doing our best to make the crossing; and when we were realizing the radial was coming in and not able to make it; we were calling him the same time he was calling us. We continued our descent at over 5;000 FPM. Also; I believe that the recommended max rate of descent for a jet in RVSM airspace is 1;000 FT; and to adhere to this clearance we needed near 5;000 FPM; without any warning/commentary from the Controller that it would be an excessive rate (and also no actual mileage fix in the clearance to let us know from the present position how far it actually was).

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.