The flight crew of a LR35 descended below the ATC cleared altitude due to a communication breakdown ...

Attributes
ACN	1311768
Time
Date	201511
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.TRACON
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Learjet 35
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 135
Flight Phase	Descent
Route In Use	Vectors
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Multiengine
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 50 Flight Crew Total 25000 Flight Crew Type 8000
Person 2
Function	First Officer Pilot Not Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Commercial Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Multiengine
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Altitude Overshoot Deviation - Procedural Clearance

Narrative:

Approach control issued a descent and heading. We read back 2;000 and continued. Shortly thereafter we were switched to another controller and we replied with the heading and 2;000 feet again. Sometime later as we descended we were asked what our altitude was and we replied 2;600. We were told to climb to 3;000 which we did. Then were told that they usually issued 4;000 in our position. Weather was clear and although I thought the altitude was a little low we had the field in site from more than 20 miles out.a conversation with ATC revealed they had only issued 6;000 feet. And they twice failed to catch it on read back. I would hope that ATC would catch a questionable read back and a lower altitude than normal much quicker.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: The flight crew of a LR35 descended below the ATC cleared altitude due to a communication breakdown during issuance and read back.

Narrative: Approach Control issued a descent and heading. We read back 2;000 and continued. Shortly thereafter we were switched to another controller and we replied with the heading and 2;000 feet again. Sometime later as we descended we were asked what our altitude was and we replied 2;600. We were told to climb to 3;000 which we did. Then were told that they usually issued 4;000 in our position. Weather was clear and although I thought the altitude was a little low we had the field in site from more than 20 miles out.A conversation with ATC revealed they had only issued 6;000 feet. and they twice failed to catch it on read back. I would hope that ATC would catch a questionable read back and a lower altitude than normal much quicker.

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.