MD88 FLC MISSES XING RESTR ON ARR TO RMG; AL.

Narrative

THIS WAS A VERY BUSY TIME IN THE COCKPIT. CHKLIST; NONSTOP CTLR INSTRUCTION TO US AND OTHER ACFT; TURNING ON ENG AND WING HEAT; COMMUNICATING WITH FLT ATTENDANTS AND; LEST WE FORGET; FLYING THE AIRPLANE. MY RECOLLECTION OF THE DSCNT PLANNING IS AS FOLLOWS: STARTING DOWN 40 NM PRIOR TO RMG WOULD GIVE ME 49 NM TO DSND 13000 FT AND SLOW TO 250 KTS. THE FMS VERIFIED MY FIGURES AND I PADDED WITH A DUMMY FIX 5 NM SHORT OF THE ACTUAL RESTR FIX; ERLIN. THIS INFO HAD BEEN LOADED AND VERIFIED BY BOTH PLTS. ATC CLRED US BACK DIRECT TO ERLIN AFTER THE 200 DEG VECTOR. I TURNED THE ACFT WITH HDG SELECT. THE FO 'HELPED' BY SETTING UP AND ENGAGING DIRECT ERLIN WHILE I TALKED TO THE FLT ATTENDANTS ABOUT THE UPCOMING TURB. I BELIEVE THIS TO BE OUR BIGGEST ERROR. DIRECT ERLIN BYPASSED THE ERL01 DUMMY FIX CONTAINING THE XING RESTR. THE FMS BOTTOM OF DSCNT DISPLAY THEN SHIFTED TO THE APCH IAF ALT AND AIRSPD; THUS THE PRIMARY NAV DISPLAY CORRECTLY SHOWED US BELOW THE PROGRAMMED DSCNT PATH; AS EXPECTED. THE CHANGE WAS SUBTLE ENOUGH THAT I DID NOT NOTICE IT ON THE DES PAGE OF THE FMS. ALSO; THE TAILWIND CONTINUED TO BLOW US E AS WE VECTORED TO THE S FURTHER WORSENING THE PROB. IN CLOSING; THERE ARE LOTS OF REASONS; BUT NO EXCUSE. TO SEE THAT THIS MISTAKE DOES NOT HAPPEN AGAIN; I WILL MODIFY MY TECHNIQUES FOR LOADING DUMMY FIXES FOR DSCNT PURPOSES. I WILL ALSO BRIEF THAT ONLY 1 HAND SHOULD TALK TO THE PLANE; AND THAT BEING THE PF. FURTHER; FMS INPUTS ARE NOT TIME CRITICAL ENOUGH TO WARRANT THIS MUCH HELP. I AM NOT BLAMING THE FO. HE WAS JUST TRYING TO HELP HIS CAPT AT A VERY EVENT COMPRESSED TIME OF OUR FLT. I KNOW FROM EXPERIENCE THAT SOMETIMES THE HARDEST THING TO DO IS SIT ON YOUR HANDS. UNFORTUNATELY; THIS IS A PROB BROUGHT ON BY EACH ADVANCE IN AUTOMATION; BUT REGARDLESS OF WHAT ONE HAND IS DOING; THE PLT'S HAND MUST BE FLYING THE AIRPLANE.