Narrative:

We were flight planned for the ltown arrival but ATC rerouted us to arg for the fnchr arrival. Approaching arg from the east; we received radar vectors for spacing which took us to the north and west of arg at FL240 and 320 KIAS. At a point about 15 NM to the northwest of stani; we received the following clearance from ATC: 'cleared direct to stani; 'descend via' the fnchr 1 arrival. After we executed the new route in the FMC we noted the 290 KIAS restriction which was appropriate at stani had not been programmed. This was because we did not cross arg (the point prior on the arrival where the restriction was charted). Thinking we had to be at 290 KIAS; the pilot flying speed intervened while pilot not flying made the adjustment in the FMS. Pilot not flying set 4;000 ft in the altitude window (final restriction at jaywa) so as to descend via the fnchr arrival. The airplane began an immediate descent to make the 'at or below 230' restriction at stani. This is where I believe an error was made. At the time we left fl 240; we were within 10 miles to the northwest of stani but not actually on the fnchr arrival. While not on the arrival; we should have asked for an altitude change so as to meet the 'at or below' restriction at stani.the ATC clearance was incomplete. We should have been given more guidance with regard to altitude. Either a clearance to descend to FL230 or a crossing restriction at stani would have been appropriate. Being fast and close to stani did not allow the crew enough time to discuss the issue and there was confusion as to whether we should have crossed stani at FL240 and then started the descent or initiated a descent so as to meet the restriction at stani.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B757-200 flight crew cleared to fly a radar vector to intercept the FNCHR RNAV STAR inside of ARG questioned whether they should have begun a descent to cross their first waypoint at the charted altitude since they were technically not established on the STAR.

Narrative: We were flight planned for the LTOWN arrival but ATC rerouted us to ARG for the FNCHR arrival. Approaching ARG from the east; we received radar vectors for spacing which took us to the north and west of ARG at FL240 and 320 KIAS. At a point about 15 NM to the northwest of STANI; we received the following clearance from ATC: 'Cleared direct to STANI; 'descend via' the FNCHR 1 arrival. After we executed the new route in the FMC we noted the 290 KIAS restriction which was appropriate at STANI had not been programmed. This was because we did not cross ARG (the point prior on the arrival where the restriction was charted). Thinking we had to be at 290 KIAS; the pilot flying speed intervened while pilot not flying made the adjustment in the FMS. Pilot not flying set 4;000 FT in the altitude window (final restriction at JAYWA) so as to descend via the FNCHR arrival. The airplane began an immediate descent to make the 'at or below 230' restriction at STANI. This is where I believe an error was made. At the time we left FL 240; we were within 10 miles to the NW of STANI but not actually on the FNCHR arrival. While not on the arrival; we should have asked for an altitude change so as to meet the 'at or below' restriction at STANI.The ATC clearance was incomplete. We should have been given more guidance with regard to altitude. Either a clearance to descend to FL230 or a crossing restriction at STANI would have been appropriate. Being fast and close to STANI did not allow the crew enough time to discuss the issue and there was confusion as to whether we should have crossed STANI at FL240 and then started the descent or initiated a descent so as to meet the restriction at STANI.

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.