A crj-70 flight crew deviated from cleared track when they got a late runway assignment on approach ...

Attributes
ACN	910438
Time
Date	201009
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.TRACON
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	IMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Regional Jet 700 ER/LR (CRJ700)
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Descent
Component
Aircraft Component	Autoflight System
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying First Officer
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 160 Flight Crew Total 7300 Flight Crew Type 4000
Person 2
Function	Pilot Not Flying Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 150 Flight Crew Total 11000 Flight Crew Type 8500
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Track / Heading All Types

Narrative:

During a high workload descent; we were given alternating headings and direct instructions. We kept asking for our runway assignment so I could start briefing the approach. I thought we were left on a downwind heading when actually we were turning direct to the airport when approach finally gave us our runway assignment. I spun the navigation select to green; thinking I was in heading mode and went to look at the appropriate chart. The FCC switched from navigation to roll mode and we banked towards the south from an easterly heading. I believe we may have deviated a few miles off course before we detected the problem. Other contributing items: deviations around weather; early start and ATC attention focused elsewhere. Obviously; the mode select must be confirmed and the workload should have been handled better.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A CRJ-70 flight crew deviated from cleared track when they got a late runway assignment on approach and experienced some autoflight mode confusion.

Narrative: During a high workload descent; we were given alternating headings and direct instructions. We kept asking for our runway assignment so I could start briefing the approach. I thought we were left on a downwind heading when actually we were turning direct to the airport when Approach finally gave us our runway assignment. I spun the NAV select to green; thinking I was in heading mode and went to look at the appropriate chart. The FCC switched from NAV to ROLL mode and we banked towards the south from an easterly heading. I believe we may have deviated a few miles off course before we detected the problem. Other contributing items: deviations around weather; early start and ATC attention focused elsewhere. Obviously; the mode select must be confirmed and the workload should have been handled better.

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.

A crj-70 flight crew deviated from cleared track when they got a late runway assignment on approach and experienced some autoflight mode confusion.