A B737 departed on the ORD8 and leveled at 4;000 ft instead of 5;000 ft because the neither pilot re...

Attributes
ACN	1175938
Time
Date	201405
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ORD.Airport
State Reference	IL
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Climb
Route In Use	SID ORD8
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Altitude Hold/Capture
Person 1
Function	Captain
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Altitude Undershoot Deviation - Altitude Crossing Restriction Not Met Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

Narrative:

At the gate we set the wrong altitude for our departure clearance. It should have been 5;000. 4;000 was set for our initial altitude and neither myself or the first officer caught the error. No excuse. We simply made a mistake. After takeoff the first officer checked in with departure and told him we were climbing to 4;000. The departure controller read back our clearance to 4;000. When we leveled off at 4;000; the controller asked who gave us that clearance and we replied it was entered in error. He cleared us to climb to 5;000. Our time at 4;000 was minimal (less than 30 seconds).

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B737 departed on the ORD8 and leveled at 4;000 FT instead of 5;000 FT because the neither pilot realized 4;000 FT was set as the initial level off altitude when it really was a crossing restriction.

Narrative: At the gate we set the wrong altitude for our departure clearance. It should have been 5;000. 4;000 was set for our initial altitude and neither myself or the First Officer caught the error. No excuse. We simply made a mistake. After takeoff the First Officer checked in with Departure and told him we were climbing to 4;000. The Departure Controller read back our clearance to 4;000. When we leveled off at 4;000; the Controller asked who gave us that clearance and we replied it was entered in error. He cleared us to climb to 5;000. Our time at 4;000 was minimal (less than 30 seconds).

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

A B737 departed on the ORD8 and leveled at 4;000 ft instead of 5;000 ft because the neither pilot realized 4;000 ft was set as the initial level off altitude when it really was a crossing restriction.