ALTDEV XING RESTR.

Narrative

ARRIVING EWR FROM STT VIA A-300; WE WERE GIVEN CLRNC DIRECT TO RBV SHORTLY AFTER BEING RADAR IDENT. THE NEXT CTLR GAVE US CLRNC TO CROSS 60 MI FROM THE RBV VORTAC AT 10000 FT MSL. UPON BEING CLRED TO RBV INITIALLY; THE CAPT HAD ENTERED RBV INTO HIS CDU AS THE ACTIVE WAYPOINT; SELECTED ABEAM POINTS; AND EXECUTED. THE FMC THEN INITIATED A TURN DIRECT TO RBV SAVING WAYPOINT REFS WHICH WERE ABEAM FIXES ON OUR PREVIOUSLY CLRED RTE. THESE APPEAR AS ACTIVE WAYPOINTS ALONG THE NEW ACTIVE (IN THIS CASE DIRECT) RTE. WHEN WE WERE GIVEN THE CLRNC TO CROSS 60 MI FROM RBV AT 10000 FT; I ENTERED RBV ON THE FIX PAGE FOLLOWED BY 160 (DME/BRG) GIVING A GREEN 60 DME ARC AROUND RBV ON OUR HSI'S. THE CAPT THOUGHT THE ARC 'CLUTTERED' THE HSI DISPLAY. ONE OF THE 'ABEAM' WAYPOINTS APPEARED TO FALL ON THE 60 DME ARC SO THE CAPT ELECTED TO ENTER A 10000 FT ALT RESTRAINT ON THIS FIX AND ERASE THE RBV FIX AND ARC. THIS WOULD HAVE WORKED FINE EXCEPT THE ALT CONSTRAINT WAS APPARENTLY ENTERED ON A LATER WAYPOINT BY MISTAKE. I DID NOT NOTICE AS I WAS OBTAINING ATIS AND TALKING TO THE COMPANY WITH IN-RANGE INFO. THE CTLR ASKED US ONCE IF WE WOULD MAKE THE XING RESTR AND WE SAID 'YES' WHEN IT WAS OBVIOUS TO HIM WE WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO COMPLY; HE ISSUED AN OFF-COURSE VECTOR FOR TFC. NO LOSS OF SEPARATION WAS APPARENT. I FEEL THAT HAD 'ABEAM POINTS' NOT BEEN SELECTED ON THE INITIAL CLRNC DIRECT RBV OR IF THE FIX PAGE 60 DME ARC HAD BEEN SAVED; OUR POS RELATIVE RBV WOULD HAVE BEEN MORE READILY APPARENT.