A B727 CAPT STRAYS OFF THE ARR PROC INTO ATL WHEN HE IS CONFUSED AND OVERLOADED.

Narrative

RMG2.ATL ARR. A SHORT DISTANCE S OF THE BWG VOR; WE WERE CLRED DIRECT TO THE RMG VOR. I SET THE 152 DEG COURSE TO FLY DIRECT. VERY NEAR THE RMG VOR; ZTL GAVE US A VECTOR OF 180 DEGS FOR SEQUENCING. WE WERE ON THAT HDG FOR A LONG PERIOD OF TIME. IN FACT; I NOTICED THAT THE SW ARR GATE ACFT WERE APPEARING ON OUR TCASII DISPLAY. FINALLY; ZTL DIRECTED A 090 DEG VECTOR TO JOIN THE ARR. DURING ALL OF THE PREVIOUS ACTIVITY; WE WERE GIVEN XING RESTRS FOR OUR DSCNT; AND I WAS DISTR DUE TO THE PROX OF THE FIX. SIMULTANEOUS; WITH THE CLRNC TO JOIN THE ARR; THE TCASII TFC ALERT WENT OFF ON 2 SEPARATE TARGETS. THEY WERE CLBING OUT OF ATLANTA; XING OUR FLT PATH. AS I RESPONDED TO THE TCASII; I NOTICED THE NAV CDI CTR. I TURNED TO INTERCEPT; YOU GUESSED IT; THE 152 DEG RADIAL VERSUS THE 132 DEG RADIAL OUTBOUND FROM RMG VOR. THE TCASII WAS 'TALKING' TO US! I RE-ENGAGED THE AUTOPLT TO ASSESS THE SIT ONCE THE TCASII SETTLED DOWN. I NOTICED THE COURSE MISMATCH AND STARTED A L TURN TO JOIN THE RMG 132 DEG RADIAL. WE HAD SWITCHED TO APCH CTL BY THEN AND THE CTLR ASKED WHAT 'THE CTR HAD CLRED US FOR...' I TOLD HIM; 'I SCREWED UP THE ARR AND THAT WE WERE REJOINING THE RMG 2.' WE WERE THEN CLRED DIRECT ATL VOR. THE DSCNT CLRNC WAS ISSUED LATE; NECESSITATING A STEEP DSCNT. NON GLASS ACFT AND A VERY BUSY ARR CONTRIBUTED TO WORK OVERLOAD DURING THIS CRITICAL PHASE OF FLT. I SUSPECT THAT ZTL FORGOT ABOUT US AND VECTORED US THROUGH THE DEP RTES WHILE WE WRE IN A VERY STEEP DSCNT (4000 FPM). THE TCASII TWEAKS YOUR SURVIVAL INSTINCTS. THE NAV DISPLAY GOT LOST IN THE MELEE.