A B757-200 flight crew experienced a momentary overspeed when asked to expedite their descent by ATC...

Narrative:

In the descent; we were cleared to 13;000 ft. Around FL230; center asked us to expedite descent through FL180. We were either in flch or VNAV with speed intervention. The first officer; as pilot flying; pulled power to idle and increased the selected speed in the airspeed window. He later added power to reduce the descent rate.the resulting speed increase was much faster than my reaction time. I called 'speed' twice; but it was too late. We experienced about a 5 KT over-speed for about 3 seconds. In retrospect; I should have pulled the speed brake handle full aft; but even that may not have prevented the over-speed in this case.while; as the captain; I take full responsibility for this event; I feel a major contributing factor is the flat panel display system [(fpds)]. Its compact and cluttered display of critical information seriously hampers recognition and response. Our older flight instrument system is a safer; more pilot friendly display with a stand-alone ADI sitting higher up on the forward instrument panel and not cluttered with airspeed and altitude data; along with larger; easy to read airspeed and vertical velocity indicators. Under less than optimum conditions; the fpds is counter-productive to safe and effective flight operations.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B757-200 flight crew experienced a momentary overspeed when asked to expedite their descent by ATC. The newly installed flat panel display system is cited by on Captain as contributing to the event due to its cluttered display of vital performance information.

Narrative: In the descent; we were cleared to 13;000 FT. Around FL230; Center asked us to expedite descent through FL180. We were either in FLCH or VNAV with speed intervention. The First Officer; as pilot flying; pulled power to idle and increased the selected speed in the airspeed window. He later added power to reduce the descent rate.The resulting speed increase was much faster than my reaction time. I called 'speed' twice; but it was too late. We experienced about a 5 KT over-speed for about 3 seconds. In retrospect; I should have pulled the speed brake handle full aft; but even that may not have prevented the over-speed in this case.While; as the Captain; I take full responsibility for this event; I feel a major contributing factor is the flat panel display system [(FPDS)]. Its compact and cluttered display of critical information seriously hampers recognition and response. Our older flight instrument system is a safer; more pilot friendly display with a stand-alone ADI sitting higher up on the forward instrument panel and not cluttered with airspeed and altitude data; along with larger; easy to read airspeed and vertical velocity indicators. Under less than optimum conditions; the FPDS is counter-productive to safe and effective flight operations.

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	953208
Time
Date	201106
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	MCO.Airport
State Reference	FL
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B757-200
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Descent
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	PFD
Person 1
Function	Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Person 2
Function	First Officer
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Speed All Types Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Other / Unknown

A B757-200 flight crew experienced a momentary overspeed when asked to expedite their descent by ATC. The newly installed flat panel display system is cited by on captain as contributing to the event due to its cluttered display of vital performance information.