B747-400
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Time Pressure; Human-Machine Interface; Fatigue; Confusion
ATC Issue All Types; Deviation - Track / Heading All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Clearance; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Air Traffic Control Issued Advisory / Alert; Aircraft Automation Overrode Flight Crew; Flight Crew Became Reoriented; Flight Crew Returned To Clearance
Human Factors; Procedure
About an hour from ZSPD the relief crew asked for expected arrival procedure in to ZSPD. The relief crew asked two different controllers. Both controllers told them to ask the next controller. About 50 min from ZSPD Capt. and First Officer (FO) resumed operation of the aircraft. We also inquired about approach in use and were passed on to the next controller. At this point the controller cleared us direct to the second fix on the arrival and handed us over to a new controller. We inquired what to expect after (second Fix) and were give the following clearance - Cleared for the SAS12i arrival. This starts at SASAN. The SAS12i was entered in to the FMC; It appeared normal on the legs page and the ND and was executed. LNAV was engaged. About 30 sec later I said why is the Aircraft turning. The Aircraft had turned 30 degrees to the left of desired heading. My immediate action was to select 'Heading Select' and turn the aircraft about 60 degrees in the opposite direction in order to get back on Course. It came to our realization the IAF SASAN never cycled thereby creating a classic problem of having the active waypoint behind us. The clearance to fly the approach was given either right before the IAF SASAN or on top of it. The IAF SASAN was literally at the back of the Aircraft Diamond on the Navigation Display. I estimate the error to be less than one mile left off course given the speed of about Kias 280. ATC asked why we were turning and we tried to convey this to ATC; I am however pretty sure the information was not understood. Contributing factors: 1. Chinese ATC not giving an approach clearance in a timely manner when requested.2. Operating crew did not catch that the aircraft was close enough that it might not Cycle properly; as there is a small delay in the FMC. 3. The FMC contains 19 pages of arrivals in to ZSPD each has several variations and multiple transitions. It is time consuming to figure out exactly which one is the correct approach. Even when selecting the Runway in use in this case RWY 16 there is still 7 FMC pages with variations and transitions. These are not readily identifiable when compared to Jeppesen approach plates. Several must be entered in to the FMC in order to be compared to a Jeppesen plate for verification. 4. Fatigue: This was at the end of an 18 hour duty day with a rolling 2 hour delay.
[Report narrative contained no additional information.]
B747-400 flight crew reports being cleared direct to the second fix on an SAS 12I arrival to ZSPD before being cleared for the arrival. When the arrival clearance is issued the crew does not clean up the legs page in the FMC to reflect direct to the second waypoint and a minor track deviation occurs.