Difficulty in programming the FMC contributed to a track deviation for a B737 flight crew.

Attributes
ACN	856126
Time
Date	200910
Place
Locale Reference	PHX.Airport
State Reference	AZ
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Dusk
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Commercial Fixed Wing
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Initial Approach
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	FMS/FMC
Person 1
Function	Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Flight Engineer Flight Crew Multiengine
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 120 Flight Crew Total 24500 Flight Crew Type 6000
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Deviation - Track / Heading All Types

Narrative:

After contacting approach; we were advised runway 26 after which I proceeded to extend the centerline on the FMC but due to the excessive usage on the rubber type of buttons; I had a difficult time getting the 6R button to take the runway heading and after several attempts it finally took it after which I accidentally executed the prompt after the aircraft turned to the transition fix for the runway 26. ATC questioned us about the turn then gave us a vector to get us back on the arrival. On the EAGLE3 into phx; I would like to see the 'landing west' box at homrr moved to the following intersection as it is very confusing to read; expect vectors after the next intersection. The expect vectors dialog box should be at the fix from which the vectors will occur.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Difficulty in programming the FMC contributed to a track deviation for a B737 flight crew.

Narrative: After contacting approach; we were advised Runway 26 after which I proceeded to extend the centerline on the FMC but due to the excessive usage on the rubber type of buttons; I had a difficult time getting the 6R button to take the runway heading and after several attempts it finally took it after which I accidentally executed the prompt after the aircraft turned to the transition fix for the Runway 26. ATC questioned us about the turn then gave us a vector to get us back on the arrival. On the EAGLE3 into PHX; I would like to see the 'landing West' box at HOMRR moved to the following intersection as it is very confusing to read; expect vectors after the next intersection. The expect vectors dialog box SHOULD be at the fix from which the vectors will occur.

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.