Narrative:

On the arrival to the sea area; we were cleared to descend via a STAR. There was some chatter involving the preceding aircraft that had been cleared on an incorrect STAR serving a different airport; which I think distracted us; however; the pilot flying briefed the descent to cross the first fix; but didn't complete the brief. The aircraft is equipped with collins proline 21; and the pilot flying has 1;200 hours in the aircraft type; so is familiar. The pilot not flying (me) has about 600 hours of proline 21 experience on different types of airplanes; but little experience with chartview feature. This feature allows the crew to view charts on the mfd; and only requires that hi and low charts be carried on-board the airplane. We crossed the first fix at 17;000 ft as per the STAR; but remained at 17;000 ft. I was coordinating ground transportation for the passengers; and receiving the weather at destination. The weather was marginal VFR; and the winds were gusty. There was a low-level wind-shear advisory in effect too. I briefed the pilot flying; then ATC queried about our descent clearance. It was at that moment that I realized how complacent we had been. The chart had been displayed on the mfd during the initial briefing; but had been removed. If the aircraft had been equipped with round-dial instruments; I would never dream of flying any procedure without the corresponding chart in front of me. Company sops should address the use of advanced avionics. On proline 21 equipped airplanes; with chartview; crews should have the current chart displayed at all times during arrivals; approaches; airport operations; and departures. Without the chart displayed on the mfd; and without paper charts available; the risk of deviation from course; or altitude greatly increases.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A CE525 with a Proline 21 installed was not required to have paper approach charts and on descent did not comply with the STAR altitudes until ATC called because company policy did not require continuous MFD chart display.

Narrative: On the arrival to the SEA area; we were cleared to descend via a STAR. There was some chatter involving the preceding aircraft that had been cleared on an incorrect STAR serving a different airport; which I think distracted us; however; the pilot flying briefed the descent to cross the first fix; but didn't complete the brief. The aircraft is equipped with Collins Proline 21; and the pilot flying has 1;200 hours in the aircraft type; so is familiar. The pilot not flying (me) has about 600 hours of Proline 21 experience on different types of airplanes; but little experience with Chartview feature. This feature allows the crew to view charts on the MFD; and only requires that Hi and Low charts be carried on-board the airplane. We crossed the first fix at 17;000 FT as per the STAR; but remained at 17;000 FT. I was coordinating ground transportation for the passengers; and receiving the weather at destination. The weather was marginal VFR; and the winds were gusty. There was a low-level wind-shear advisory in effect too. I briefed the pilot flying; then ATC queried about our descent clearance. It was at that moment that I realized how complacent we had been. The chart had been displayed on the MFD during the initial briefing; but had been removed. If the aircraft had been equipped with round-dial instruments; I would never dream of flying any procedure without the corresponding chart in front of me. Company SOPs should address the use of advanced avionics. On Proline 21 equipped airplanes; with Chartview; crews should have the current chart displayed at all times during arrivals; approaches; airport operations; and departures. Without the chart displayed on the MFD; and without paper charts available; the risk of deviation from course; or altitude greatly increases.

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.