ZAB controller described a confused clearance event involving the geela 4 RNAV STAR and the absence ...

Narrative:

It was a busy arrival push into phx this morning. With the new geela 4 RNAV arrival there is quite a bit more transmissions that need to be made to ensure the pilot will do what we need him to do. If the pilot is to descend via the arrival; well that's a straight forward clearance. When we have to vector the aircraft for sequencing the phraseology to put the aircraft back on the arrival is very confusing. An A320 was issued a clearance to cross geela at and maintain 12;000 ft and 250 KTS. The pilot read this back correctly. The pilot was then issued 'cleared the geela 4 arrival; runway 7R transition'. The pilot read back 'cleared for the geela 4 arrival; 7R transition.' at no point was a descend via clearance given or read back. The aircraft then entered phx approach and said he was descending 'via' the arrival. Phx approach then called us and let us know. We need to come up with some type of phraseology that will allow us to clear the aircraft for the arrival and transition without the pilot thinking he is cleared to 'descend via' the arrival. It seems the pilots are associating the runway transition with a descend via clearance. Maybe give the runway transition on initial check on if that is legal..

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ZAB Controller described a confused clearance event involving the GEELA 4 RNAV STAR and the absence of clear phraseology that captures route information but not any 'descend via' inference.

Narrative: It was a busy arrival push into PHX this morning. With the new GEELA 4 RNAV arrival there is quite a bit more transmissions that need to be made to ensure the pilot will do what we need him to do. If the pilot is to descend via the arrival; well that's a straight forward clearance. When we have to vector the aircraft for sequencing the phraseology to put the aircraft back on the arrival is very confusing. An A320 was issued a clearance to cross GEELA at and maintain 12;000 FT and 250 KTS. The pilot read this back correctly. The pilot was then issued 'Cleared the GEELA 4 arrival; Runway 7R transition'. The pilot read back 'Cleared for the GEELA 4 arrival; 7R transition.' At no point was a descend via clearance given or read back. The aircraft then entered PHX Approach and said he was descending 'VIA' the arrival. PHX Approach then called us and let us know. We need to come up with some type of phraseology that will allow us to clear the aircraft for the arrival and transition without the pilot thinking he is cleared to 'DESCEND VIA' the arrival. It seems the pilots are associating the runway transition with a descend via clearance. Maybe give the runway transition on initial check on if that is legal..

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.

Attributes
ACN	928604
Time
Date	201101
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	PHX.Airport
State Reference	AZ
Environment
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	A320
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Descent
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Enroute
Qualification	Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

ZAB controller described a confused clearance event involving the geela 4 RNAV STAR and the absence of clear phraseology that captures route information but not any 'descend via' inference.