The captain of a redeye flight to sbgr heard a clearance to 5;000 feet. The foreign controller's cle...

Attributes
ACN	1295941
Time
Date	201509
Local Time Of Day	0001-0600
Place
Locale Reference	SBGR.Airport
State Reference	FO
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Widebody Low Wing 2 Turbojet Eng
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Initial Approach
Route In Use	STAR ANSUG1A
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	First Officer Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 134 Flight Crew Total 11700
Person 2
Function	Pilot Not Flying Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 206 Flight Crew Total 13901 Flight Crew Type 368
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Altitude Overshoot Deviation - Procedural Clearance Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Other / Unknown

Narrative:

While descending for the ILS 9R; the sbgr approach controller told us to 'descend to 5000 feet; unrestricted descent'. The captain; who was the pm; read back the clearance to descend to 5000 feet. The air traffic controller; who's english was terrible; then repeated the clearance to 'descend to five thousand five hundred; unrestricted descent.' it was very difficult to understand these two clearances. The captain again read back the clearance to descend to 5000 feet. I wasn't sure of the altitude clearance; because of the lack of clear english used by the controller; but I asked the captain to verify if we were cleared down to 5500 or 5000 feet. The captain; who had become very grumpy and agitated after being awake all night while flying down to sbgr barked at me that he was sure the altitude assigned to us was 5000 feet and he set it in the MCP. He seemed certain about the assigned altitude so I took his word for it. Once level at 5000 feet; the controller told us we should have been at 5500 feet.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: The Captain of a redeye flight to SBGR heard a clearance to 5;000 feet. The foreign Controller's clearance was actually to 5;500 feet which the flying First Officer heard correctly. When level at 5;000 feet; which the Captain wanted; the Controller commented on the incorrect altitude.

Narrative: While descending for the ILS 9R; the SBGR approach controller told us to 'descend to 5000 feet; unrestricted descent'. The captain; who was the PM; read back the clearance to descend to 5000 feet. The air traffic controller; who's English was terrible; then repeated the clearance to 'descend to five thousand five hundred; unrestricted descent.' It was very difficult to understand these two clearances. The captain again read back the clearance to descend to 5000 feet. I wasn't sure of the altitude clearance; because of the lack of clear English used by the controller; but I asked the captain to verify if we were cleared down to 5500 or 5000 feet. The captain; who had become very grumpy and agitated after being awake all night while flying down to SBGR barked at me that he was sure the altitude assigned to us was 5000 feet and he set it in the MCP. He seemed certain about the assigned altitude so I took his word for it. Once level at 5000 feet; the controller told us we should have been at 5500 feet.

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.

The captain of a redeye flight to sbgr heard a clearance to 5;000 feet. The foreign controller's clearance was actually to 5;500 feet which the flying first officer heard correctly. When level at 5;000 feet; which the captain wanted; the controller commented on the incorrect altitude.