Narrative:

While en route sdl; the aircraft that I was piloting arrived at drk on an IFR flight plan. My IFR clearance was ...drk-JACOBS2-sdl. Upon arrival to drk I had not yet programmed the garmin GNS 530 with the JACOBS2 arrival. The aircraft was programmed to fly from drk to sdl so that is what it did. The center controller noticed and eventually gave me a vector heading of 080 and a descent down to FL160 from FL230. I attempted to program the descent into the #1 GNS 530 via the VNAV feature. The #1 GNS 530 did not accept any input so I started the descent manually and began to program the descent into the #2 GNS 530. While doing so; center gave me the instructions to fly directly to swirl and cross swirl at 11000 ft. I then programmed the GNS 530 with this descent. At this time I was approximately 7.5 miles from swirl and the crossing at 11000 ft required a descent of over 5500 FPM. I attempted to descend the aircraft at this extreme angle but it quickly became evident that I would exceed the aircrafts structural limitations if I kept that kind of descent up. I then notified center; 'abq center; 3 KM; I don't think I can make that altitude in time.' center responded back; 'ok.' while managing my airspeed; which was nearing vne; I was rapidly approaching my assigned altitude of 11000 ft and began a gradual level off. I could see that I was going to pass through the assigned altitude but chose not to damage the aircraft with any abrupt movement due to the steep descent and high airspeed. I climbed back up to my assigned 11000 ft and conducted a safe landing at sdl. Phx approach advised me to contact abq center to discuss the matter. Upon contacting the controller supervisor via cell; he asked for my statement on the matter. He was very understanding and cooperative and handled the situation professionally. I explained what happened and asked why a controller would ask for such a maneuver; a 5000+ descent to reach a fix. He explained that a 'developmental' was giving the instruction and was in training and that was a mistake. He said that my notification of not being able to make the fix by the assigned altitude was good; but the controller response of 'ok' was not adequate. The controller should also not have assigned such a steep angle. He said they have problems with their procedures and would rectify them; however; stated that he was required to report the incident since another aircraft was within 5 miles of the descent.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Pilot descending into SDL on JACOBS2 arrival was late programming the descent into his advanced navigation system. ATC issued a clearance which required a very high rate of descent and during level off the aircraft descended below the clearance altitude.

Narrative: While en route SDL; the aircraft that I was piloting arrived at DRK on an IFR flight plan. My IFR clearance was ...DRK-JACOBS2-SDL. Upon arrival to DRK I had not yet programmed the Garmin GNS 530 with the JACOBS2 arrival. The aircraft was programmed to fly from DRK to SDL so that is what it did. The Center Controller noticed and eventually gave me a vector heading of 080 and a descent down to FL160 from FL230. I attempted to program the descent into the #1 GNS 530 via the VNAV feature. The #1 GNS 530 did not accept any input so I started the descent manually and began to program the descent into the #2 GNS 530. While doing so; Center gave me the instructions to fly directly to SWIRL and cross SWIRL at 11000 FT. I then programmed the GNS 530 with this descent. At this time I was approximately 7.5 miles from SWIRL and the crossing at 11000 FT required a descent of over 5500 FPM. I attempted to descend the aircraft at this extreme angle but it quickly became evident that I would exceed the aircrafts structural limitations if I kept that kind of descent up. I then notified center; 'ABQ Center; 3 KM; I don't think I can make that altitude in time.' Center responded back; 'OK.' While managing my airspeed; which was nearing Vne; I was rapidly approaching my assigned altitude of 11000 FT and began a gradual level off. I could see that I was going to pass through the assigned altitude but chose not to damage the aircraft with any abrupt movement due to the steep descent and high airspeed. I climbed back up to my assigned 11000 FT and conducted a safe landing at SDL. PHX Approach advised me to contact ABQ Center to discuss the matter. Upon contacting the Controller Supervisor via cell; he asked for my statement on the matter. He was very understanding and cooperative and handled the situation professionally. I explained what happened and asked why a Controller would ask for such a maneuver; a 5000+ descent to reach a fix. He explained that a 'Developmental' was giving the instruction and was in training and that was a mistake. He said that my notification of not being able to make the fix by the assigned altitude was good; but the Controller response of 'OK' was not adequate. The Controller should also not have assigned such a steep angle. He said they have problems with their procedures and would rectify them; however; stated that he was required to report the incident since another aircraft was within 5 miles of the descent.

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.