Narrative:

There was confusion between the cockpit crew and ATC as to whether the crew was actually cleared for the profile descent on the civet arrival. ATC 'cleared us for the civet arrival' to lax. We did not understand that to mean cleared to descend and to what altitude. Upon questioning the controller as to when we could descend, they said 'you were cleared to descend.' by this time we would be high on the crossing restr at civet. The ATC controller said ok, that we will be ok to be high on the civet profile. Solution: when ATC clears us for the civet arrival, they should also clear us for the descent out of our current altitude. Make it clear and eliminate the confusion!

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: AN ACR FLC IS CONFUSED AS TO THEIR CLRNC ON THE CIVET STAR WHEN THE CTLR HAD CLRED THEM FOR THE ARR AND LATER, UPON BEING QUESTIONED BY CREW, SAYS THEY HAD BEEN CLRED FOR THE DSCNT, AT CIVET, LAX, CA.

Narrative: THERE WAS CONFUSION BTWN THE COCKPIT CREW AND ATC AS TO WHETHER THE CREW WAS ACTUALLY CLRED FOR THE PROFILE DSCNT ON THE CIVET ARR. ATC 'CLRED US FOR THE CIVET ARR' TO LAX. WE DID NOT UNDERSTAND THAT TO MEAN CLRED TO DSND AND TO WHAT ALT. UPON QUESTIONING THE CTLR AS TO WHEN WE COULD DSND, THEY SAID 'YOU WERE CLRED TO DSND.' BY THIS TIME WE WOULD BE HIGH ON THE XING RESTR AT CIVET. THE ATC CTLR SAID OK, THAT WE WILL BE OK TO BE HIGH ON THE CIVET PROFILE. SOLUTION: WHEN ATC CLRS US FOR THE CIVET ARR, THEY SHOULD ALSO CLR US FOR THE DSCNT OUT OF OUR CURRENT ALT. MAKE IT CLR AND ELIMINATE THE CONFUSION!

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2007 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.