A B727 SO RECEIVING IOE TRAINING NOTES THAT ITS DISTR PREVENTED HIM FROM BACKING UP THE PLTS; WHO WERE OPERATING WITH AUTOPLT OFF AS A RESULT OF NUMEROUS CHANGES TO HDG AND ALT CLRNCS; WITH THE END RESULT OF AN ALT OVERSHOOT.

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WE WERE ON DSCNT INTO ATL. WE WERE BEING VECTORED BY ATL APCH CTL. THE AUTOPLT WAS DISCONNECTED DUE TO NUMEROUS ALT; HDG AND AIRSPD CHANGES. THE APCH CHKLIST WAS BEING RUN AS WE WERE CLRED FROM 10000 FT TO 9000 FT WITH A HDG CHANGE AND SLOWDOWN. 9000 FT WAS SET IN THE ALT WINDOW. PASSING THROUGH 8500 FT AS THE FO WAS FLYING; THE CAPT SAID 'I MISSED YOUR 1000 FT CALL; PASSING 8500 FT FOR 8000 FT.' THE FO ACKNOWLEDGED. WE ALL THOUGHT THAT 8000 FT WAS OUR CLRNC. REACHING 8000 FT; WE REALIZED THAT 9000 FT WAS SET IN THE ALT WINDOW. THE CAPT QUERIED APCH CTL ABOUT OUR CLRED ALT. HE REPLIED 'THE CLRNC WAS 9000 FT; BUT YOU ARE FINE WHERE YOU ARE.' THE CAPT ACKNOWLEDGED; AND THE REMAINDER OF THE DSCNT WAS UNEVENTFUL. NO OTHER ACFT WERE INVOLVED. I BELIEVE THIS HAPPENED BECAUSE OF THE HIGH WORKLOAD AT THAT TIME WITH THE AUTOPLT OFF. BECAUSE OF THE NATURE OF THE B727 AUTOPLT; MULTIPLE PHASE OF FLT CHANGES ARE DIFFICULT. I DON'T KNOW WHY THERE WAS CONFUSION ABOUT WHICH ALT WE WERE CLRED TO. I WAS RECEIVING TRAINING AS A NEW SO ON IOE; WHICH MAY HAVE ADDED TO THE WORKLOAD AND MY ABILITY TO BACK UP THE CAPT AND FO.