A crj-200 flight crew addressed their reservations about the suitability of their aircraft's autofli...

Attributes
ACN	1049131
Time
Date	201211
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	MEM.Airport
State Reference	TN
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Dusk
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Regional Jet 200 ER/LR (CRJ200)
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Descent
Route In Use	STAR LTOWN
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	FMS/FMC
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Not Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Person 2
Function	First Officer Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Deviation - Speed All Types

Narrative:

During the ltown RNAV STAR into memphis we missed the 210 KTS speed at dasac.I had reviewed the company memos and the operations bulletin and even talked to the chief pilot the day I started this trip because of that memo. We briefed this arrival and actually discussed the arrival most of the flight. We were so concerned about doing it correctly and not missing altitude restrictions that we missed this speed. I have not done this arrival into mem before so lack of experience was also a factor. I believe that these types of arrivals are better suited to aircraft that are more appropriately equipped with LNAV/VNAV/auto throttles etc. It is my opinion that the distraction that this labor intensive type of arrival; being done for the first time or very infrequently; not to mention if there had been bad weather in the area; is somewhat unsafe. I think that all the misconceptions and confusion that made the issuance of another memo demonstrates that this is a problem.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A CRJ-200 flight crew addressed their reservations about the suitability of their aircraft's autoflight systems to comply with the constraints of the LTOWN RNAV STAR (an Optimized Descent Profile) into MEM without excessive monitoring and intervention by the flight crew.

Narrative: During the LTOWN RNAV STAR into Memphis we missed the 210 KTS speed at DASAC.I had reviewed the company memos and the OPS bulletin and even talked to the Chief Pilot the day I started this trip because of that memo. We briefed this arrival and actually discussed the arrival most of the flight. We were so concerned about doing it correctly and not missing altitude restrictions that we missed this speed. I have not done this arrival into MEM before so lack of experience was also a factor. I believe that these types of arrivals are better suited to aircraft that are more appropriately equipped with LNAV/VNAV/auto throttles etc. It is my opinion that the distraction that this labor intensive type of arrival; being done for the first time or very infrequently; not to mention if there had been bad weather in the area; is somewhat unsafe. I think that all the misconceptions and confusion that made the issuance of another memo demonstrates that this is a problem.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 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.

A crj-200 flight crew addressed their reservations about the suitability of their aircraft's autoflight systems to comply with the constraints of the ltown RNAV STAR (an optimized descent profile) into mem without excessive monitoring and intervention by the flight crew.