Commercial Fixed Wing
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 250; Flight Crew Total 16000; Flight Crew Type 450
Distraction; Human-Machine Interface; Confusion; Time Pressure; Workload
ATC Issue All Types; Conflict Airborne Conflict; Deviation - Speed All Types; Deviation - Track / Heading All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence
Air Traffic Control Issued Advisory / Alert; Air Traffic Control Issued New Clearance; Air Traffic Control Separated Traffic; Flight Crew Became Reoriented; Flight Crew FLC Overrode Automation; Flight Crew Overcame Equipment Problem
Chart Or Publication; Human Factors; Procedure; Airspace Structure
The arrivals into DFW are out of control!! Vectored off; vectored back on with altitude restraints... 'descend via; maintain 11;000 ft' ... 'resume normal speed' ... 'descend via except maintain 290 knots' ... long vectors off then speed up and resume STAR... Runway changes (find it and brief it while complying!)Out of control... maybe these could be flown accurately in a 'smart' aircraft. Not so much on [my fleet] with an antiquated 'box' and with speedbrakes the size of postage stamps.Somebody needs to get real. These are violations waiting to happen!The guys approving these STARS are guys who sit behind a desk or live in a simulator. A simulator mind you. They are not out here in the real world with clobbered radios; WX; 'Descend via; maintain 11;000 FT and 290 knots' You gotta be a lawyer to understand the whole 'via' thing. Yea; it makes ATC's job easier; but it is unsafe.
An MD-80 Captain strongly asserts that arrivals (RNAV STARs) in DFW are '...out of control' and provides examples of ATC alterations to them that have made his tasks more difficult rather than safer and more efficient. He further advises. 'You gotta be a lawyer to understand the whole 'via' thing.' Less than state of the art autoflight tools on his aircraft were cited as a contributing factor.