Regional Jet 200 ER/LR (CRJ200)
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Workload; Situational Awareness; Human-Machine Interface; Communication Breakdown
ATC Issue All Types; Deviation - Speed All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Clearance
Air Traffic Control Issued Advisory / Alert; Flight Crew Returned To Clearance
Human Factors; Weather; Chart Or Publication; Aircraft
On descent into ATL we were assigned and maintaining a speed of 310 KIAS. We were then cleared to cross HONIE at [the charted] 12;000 and 250 KTS. [This would require a] 2.9 degree descent rate according to the aircraft instruments. I proceeded to descend to meet the crossing restriction. I also started to slow the aircraft to the 250 KT restrictions. At somewhere less than 15 miles from HONIE we were asked by ATC what our airspeed was. We told them 270 KTS; told them we were slowing to meet the restriction and that we had strong tail winds. They asked if we were assigned 310 and I told them we were but had started the speed reduction early to allow for the heavy tail winds and meet the crossing speed. I increased the speed as much as I thought I could yet keep it slow enough to be sure to make the crossing restrictions. We were then handed to another frequency and flight continued as normal. [I was concerned about] tail winds in excess of 90 KTS; which made planning speed reductions more difficult and we slowed earlier than may have been necessary to make sure not to miss a crossing restriction.To avoid this in the future we could have possibly slowed a little later in the descent or told ATC we were slowing. ATC could help by providing a little more spacing of the aircraft when there are strong tail winds; or we could have been cleared to keep our speed at 310 until told to slow to 250. That way ATC would have known when we were going to slow to meet the restriction.
A CRJ-200 flight crew cleared via the HONIE RNAV STAR to ATL was assigned a speed of 310 KTS but to cross HONIE at 12;000 and 250 KTS as charted. Strong tailwinds caused the pilot flying to begin his speed reduction earlier than anticipated by ATC and separation issues ensued.