AN ACR FLC IN AN LGT GETS DISTRACTED SEARCHING FOR TFC AND THE FO DSNDS TOO LOW AT A XING POINT. THE ERROR WAS; IN PART; DUE TO USING IMPROPER TECHNIQUE AND MODE SELECTION.

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ZLA CLRED US TO DSND VIA THE CIVET 2 ARR. MY COPLT WAS FLYING. I OBSERVED THAT MY COPLT WAS DSNDING WITH THE AUTOPLT ENGAGED IN VNAV. HE HAD SET 14000 FT IN THE AUTOPLT ALT WINDOW AND WAS SETTING EACH SUBSEQUENT XING RESTR AS WE CROSSED FIXES CIVET AND BREMR. EACH TIME THE AUTOPLT LEVELED OFF IN ALT HOLD; HE RE-SELECTED VNAV IN ANTICIPATION OF DSNDING TO THE NEXT ALT RESTR. THIS METHOD IS CONSIDERED TECHNIQUE; AND ALTHOUGH NOT MY TECHNIQUE; HE WAS DOING IT CORRECTLY. APCHING ARNES WE WERE CLRED FOR THE ILS RWY 25L APCH. MY COPLT THEN SET 3500 FT IN THE ALT WINDOW. BY SELECTING THE FINAL ALT RESTR PRIOR TO COMMENCING THE ILS APCH HE WOULD ONLY HAVE TO MONITOR VNAV IN THE DSCNT. THIS IS THE TECHNIQUE MOST COMMONLY USED. AT ARNES WE BEGAN TO DSND ON THE APCH. I REMINDED HIM NOT TO ENGAGE APCH MODE UNTIL PASSING HUNDA. SOCAL APCH HAD ISSUED TFC AT 1 TO 2 O'CLOCK POS THAT WOULD ENTER ON R BASE AND PRECEDE US TO RWY 25L. I BEGAN TO SCAN FOR THE TFC; BUT COULD NOT SEE IT AND ADVISED THEM SO. I RETURNED MY SCAN TO THE PANEL AND OBSERVED WE WERE BELOW 9000 FT AND HAD NOT YET REACHED SUZZI. I IMMEDIATELY CALLED THIS TO MY COPLT'S ATTN AND INSTRUCTED HIM TO RETURN TO 9000 FT. I THEN NOTICED THAT FLT LEVEL CHANGE WAS THE DSCNT MODE. (WE WERE NO LONGER IN VNAV.) I LOOKED AT THE AUTOPLT AND OBSERVED IT WAS NOT ON. I RE- ENGAGED VNAV MYSELF AND INSTRUCTED HIM TO USE HIS FLT DIRECTOR AND VERT DEV INDICATOR TO XCHK HIS DSCNT WITH REF TO EACH OF THE XING RESTRS. ONCE WE REGAINED THE APCH PROFILE WE REMAINED WELL ABOVE ALL SUBSEQUENT XING RESTRS. THIS DEV OCCURRED BECAUSE MY COPLT HAND FLEW THE ACFT WITH NO FMS GUIDANCE AND FAILED TO MAINTAIN ALT AWARENESS. WE DEBRIEFED THE APCH AT THE GATE WITH EMPHASIS ON DIFFERENCES BTWN VNAV AND FLT LEVEL CHANGE WITH REGARD TO THE XING RESTRS. IN THE FUTURE I WILL REQUIRE THAT A DISCUSSION OF DSCNT TECHNIQUE BE MADE A PART OF THE BRIEFING FOR THIS APCH. I WILL MAKE AUTOPLT ENGAGEMENT AND VNAV USE MANDATORY; CITING VISUAL TFC SCANNING AS A HIGH PRIORITY; AND AUTOFLT AS A TOOL TO REDUCE WORKLOAD.