<< >> NASA ASRS Report 1192233, August 2014

ZFW controller reports of a pilot that thought they could descend on the STAR whenever they needed to.

Attributes
ACN	1192233
Time
Date	201408
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZFW.ARTCC
State Reference	TX
Environment
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B777 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Cruise
Route In Use	STAR DRLLR
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Enroute
Qualification	Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Experience	Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 2
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Altitude Excursion From Assigned Altitude Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

Narrative:

Aircraft X direct tornn intersection on drllr star level at FL390. Aircraft X advises ATC they are leaving FL390 for FL240 without ATC clearance to do so. I immediately advised aircraft X to descend and maintain FL370. Aircraft X then read back; 'descend and maintain FL370.' pilot thought with the new stars they could start descending whenever they needed too; to make their descent profile. Had it been busier or if aircraft had traffic below there could have been an unsafe situation.brief pilots on proper procedures of new oapm arrivals.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ZFW Controller reports of a pilot that thought they could descend on the STAR whenever they needed to.

Narrative: Aircraft X direct TORNN intersection on DRLLR Star level at FL390. Aircraft X advises ATC they are leaving FL390 for FL240 without ATC clearance to do so. I immediately advised Aircraft X to descend and maintain FL370. Aircraft X then read back; 'descend and maintain FL370.' Pilot thought with the new STARS they could start descending whenever they needed too; to make their descent profile. Had it been busier or if aircraft had traffic below there could have been an unsafe situation.Brief pilots on proper procedures of new OAPM arrivals.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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.