A B737-800 MISSED COMPULSORY STAR ALT BECAUSE THE FMS DATABASE IN USE WAS NOT YET ACTIVE AND DISPLAYED FUTURE RESTRICTIONS; NOT CURRENT ONES.

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MAINT PERFORMED DATABASE DOWNLOAD THE PREVIOUS NIGHT. DURING FMS/CDU PREFLT; DID NOT NOTICE THAT DATABASES WERE 'SWAPPED;' IE; A DATABASE FROM NEXT WK WAS ACTIVE IN THE FMC. DID NOT NOTICE THAT 'CHINS 6' ARR LOADED; INSTEAD OF 'CHINS 5.' WHEN BRIEFING CHINS 5 ARR; DID NOT NOTICE THAT THE FMC ALT FOR RADDY INTXN WAS '16000A' WHEN IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN '16000.' WE GOT THE ALT RIGHT; BUT MISSED THE LETTER AFTER THE ALT. ATC POINTED OUT THAT WE 'WERE BLOWING OFF' ALT AT RADDY; AND ASKED IF WE WOULD MAKE THE 15000 FT OR BELOW RESTR AT HUMPP INTXN. JUST BEFORE ATC HAD CALLED; WE NOTICED THAT WE WERE HIGH XING RADDY; AND HAD INCREASED OUR RATE OF DSCNT. WE CROSSED RADDY HIGH; PERHAPS AT FL180. WE EASILY MADE THE RESTR AT HUMPP. ATC SAID NOTHING ELSE AFTER THE INCIDENT. THIS WAS A 'SWISS CHEESE' TYPE OF ERROR. WE HAD NUMEROUS CHANCES TO CATCH THE ERROR (PREFLT; RTE LOADING; DSCNT/APCH BRIEFING) BUT STILL DIDN'T CATCH THE ERROR. WE TRUSTED THE AUTOMATION; AND THE AUTOMATION PERFORMED THE CHINS 6 PERFECTLY; BUT WE WERE CLRED THE CHINS 5. THIS IS A GOOD WAKE-UP CALL FOR ME TO BE MORE CAREFUL DURING FMC PREFLT PROGRAMMING AND DURING THE DSCNT BRIEFING; AND THEN TO MONITOR ACFT PERFORMANCE AS IF WE HAD 'NO' AUTOMATION. THIS EVENT WILL RE-INSTALL MY MISTRUST OF AUTOMATION. STATEMENT ABOVE COVERS THESE THOUGHTS. MAINT MIGHT BE REMINDED TO RE-SELECT THE CURRENT DATABASE AFTER A DOWNLOAD; BUT THE FINAL RESPONSIBILITY RESTS WITH THE FLT CREW.