Pilot flying selected a climb vice a descent on the vertical speed dial.

Attributes
ACN	1315087
Time
Date	201512
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.ARTCC
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Gulfstream G650
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Descent
Route In Use	STAR ZZZ
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying First Officer
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 54 Flight Crew Total 10391 Flight Crew Type 88
Person 2
Function	Captain Pilot Not Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 50 Flight Crew Total 11700 Flight Crew Type 125
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Altitude Excursion From Assigned Altitude Deviation - Procedural Clearance

Narrative:

ATC held us up past our top of descent. Issued a clearance to descend via an RNAV arrival. Descent was going to require a descent in excess of 3;000 FPM. In a rushed mode in order to make the descent I quickly spun the vertical descent knob on the autopilot control panel the wrong way and engaged. Airplane started an aggressive climb. I disengaged the vs mode spun the descent mode in the correct direction and reengaged. Airplane did not respond and kept climbing. Disengaged autopilot; started the descent and informed ATC.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Pilot flying selected a climb vice a descent on the vertical speed dial.

Narrative: ATC held us up past our top of descent. Issued a clearance to descend via an RNAV arrival. Descent was going to require a descent in excess of 3;000 FPM. In a rushed mode in order to make the descent I quickly spun the vertical descent knob on the autopilot control panel the wrong way and engaged. Airplane started an aggressive climb. I disengaged the VS mode spun the descent mode in the correct direction and reengaged. Airplane did not respond and kept climbing. Disengaged autopilot; started the descent and informed ATC.

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.