Widebody transport flight crew; both intent on entering arrival data in the FMC; missed an assigned ...

Narrative:

We were assigned to cross rebit intersection at 17;000 feet. I was pilot monitoring. We were about 20 miles from the fix and I queried ATC as to our arrival. We were not filed for any STAR. They gave us the coway one papa arrival for ILS 33R. I looked up at our descent progress and we were on profile to reach rebit at 17;000 feet. I inserted the arrival in the flight plan; and then realized we were not going to make rebit at 17;000 feet; and announced as such to the pilot flying. I realized then that he was typing to activate the secondary which he had briefed as a backup. There were two coway arrivals that would work for 33R; so I just thought it would be faster for me to insert the arrival in the primary flight plan. We never made rebit at 17;000 feet and never heard anything from ATC. The first officer told me upon debrief that the FMS went to vertical speed mode when I started typing; but he was focused upon activating the secondary flight plan. Moral of the story: someone needs to fly the jet; all the time; only one person can type. I should have caught that. There were frequency changes; and other things happening to keep the pilot monitoring busy. The pilot flying should just fly; period.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Widebody Transport flight crew; both intent on entering arrival data in the FMC; missed an assigned crossing altitude.

Narrative: We were assigned to cross REBIT Intersection at 17;000 feet. I was Pilot monitoring. We were about 20 miles from the fix and I queried ATC as to our arrival. We were not filed for any STAR. They gave us the Coway One papa arrival for ILS 33R. I looked up at our descent progress and we were on profile to reach REBIT at 17;000 feet. I inserted the arrival in the Flight plan; and then realized we were not going to make REBIT at 17;000 feet; and announced as such to the pilot flying. I realized then that he was typing to activate the secondary which he had briefed as a backup. There were two Coway arrivals that would work for 33R; so I just thought it would be faster for me to insert the arrival in the primary flight plan. We never made REBIT at 17;000 feet and never heard anything from ATC. The First Officer told me upon debrief that the FMS went to Vertical Speed mode when I started typing; but he was focused upon activating the secondary flight plan. Moral of the story: Someone needs to fly the jet; all the time; only one person can type. I should have caught that. There were frequency changes; and other things happening to keep the Pilot Monitoring busy. The Pilot Flying should just fly; period.

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.

Attributes
ACN	1231550
Time
Date	201501
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	RKRR.ARTCC
State Reference	FO
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Widebody Transport
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Descent
Route In Use	STAR COWAY 1
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	Pilot Flying First Officer
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Altitude Crossing Restriction Not Met Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

Widebody transport flight crew; both intent on entering arrival data in the FMC; missed an assigned crossing altitude.