Narrative:

Inbound flight was issued potential holding at pirat intersection; then pilot's discretion to FL200 by pirat. Flight then re-cleared rains intersection then pirat intersection with possible holding at rains. Initially we had a slight problem finding the intersections on the ipad jeppesen coverage. Found the intersections on both ipad and paper area charts after a short search. Then we were issued holding instructions at rains and to hold at FL200. With the first clearance to FL200 for pirat captain selected flch until the data could be entered in the FMC then re-selected VNAV. When the routing changed to rains then pirat plus a hold clearance at rains it was noted that we had 59NM to descend from FL360 to FL200 which should have been within the performance available. At this point we had built holding at pirat and then again for rains. Captain got distracted with checking weather options and holding time versus fuel available and allowed the aircraft to get behind on the profile.first officer checked our clearance with ATC and we were advised that we did not have to cross rains at the FL200 and that we were cleared to descend in the hold. ATC was advised that we would be above FL200 at rains.this was the second leg for the captain and the first officer in this version of this aircraft. Slight delay in identifying the charted intersections and building multiple holds. ETOPS flight and considering fuel versus divert scenarios. All added workload that the captain allowed to get out of priority.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: The Captain was late descending for holding at PIRAT intersection because of workload.

Narrative: Inbound flight was issued potential holding at PIRAT intersection; then pilot's discretion to FL200 by PIRAT. Flight then re-cleared RAINS intersection then PIRAT intersection with possible holding at RAINS. Initially we had a slight problem finding the intersections on the iPad Jeppesen coverage. Found the intersections on both iPad and paper Area charts after a short search. Then we were issued holding instructions at RAINS and to hold at FL200. With the first clearance to FL200 for PIRAT Captain selected FLCH until the data could be entered in the FMC then re-selected VNAV. When the routing changed to RAINS then PIRAT plus a hold clearance at RAINS it was noted that we had 59NM to descend from FL360 to FL200 which should have been within the performance available. At this point we had built holding at PIRAT and then again for RAINS. Captain got distracted with checking weather options and holding time versus fuel available and allowed the aircraft to get behind on the profile.First Officer checked our clearance with ATC and we were advised that we did not have to cross RAINS at the FL200 and that we were cleared to descend in the hold. ATC was advised that we would be above FL200 at RAINS.This was the second leg for the Captain and the First Officer in this version of this aircraft. Slight delay in identifying the charted intersections and building multiple holds. ETOPS flight and considering fuel versus divert scenarios. All added workload that the Captain allowed to get out of priority.

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.