An air carrier captain reported that ZLA issued a late runway assignment change. The crew could not ...

Attributes
ACN	845264
Time
Date	200907
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	LAX.Airport
State Reference	CA
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Medium Large Transport Low Wing 2 Turbojet Eng
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Descent
Route In Use	STAR RIIVR TWO
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	FMS/FMC
Person 1
Function	Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Flight Engineer Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 200 Flight Crew Total 20000 Flight Crew Type 4000
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Altitude Crossing Restriction Not Met Deviation - Procedural Clearance

Narrative:

As often happens; lax center assigned us a different runway at the last minute. With FMC reaction time of the newly entered approach; briefing and running checklists over again; the aircraft became high on the descent path and we were 2000 ft above our crossing restriction. The restriction at riivr intersection is between 12;000 ft and 14;000 ft and we crossed at 16;000 ft after we initiated an expeditious descent. This type of problem is prevalent in the lax area and changing the routing as you're approaching the fix where the change happens opens up great opportunity for error. If ATC could provide the runway assignment 10 to 15 miles earlier; it would solve many problems.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An air carrier Captain reported that ZLA issued a late runway assignment change. The crew could not re-program the FMC; brief a new arrival and descend to cross RIIVR intersection in the crossing window. The aircraft was 2;000 FT high.

Narrative: As often happens; LAX Center assigned us a different runway at the last minute. With FMC reaction time of the newly entered approach; briefing and running checklists over again; the aircraft became high on the descent path and we were 2000 FT above our crossing restriction. The restriction at RIIVR intersection is between 12;000 FT and 14;000 FT and we crossed at 16;000 FT after we initiated an expeditious descent. This type of problem is prevalent in the LAX area and changing the routing as you're approaching the fix where the change happens opens up great opportunity for error. If ATC could provide the runway assignment 10 to 15 miles earlier; it would solve many problems.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.

An air carrier captain reported that ZLA issued a late runway assignment change. The crew could not re-program the FMC; brief a new arrival and descend to cross riivr intersection in the crossing window. The aircraft was 2;000 ft high.