A flight instructor reported misunderstooding the clearance altitude while on a san diego bay tour. ...

Attributes
ACN	1412626
Time
Date	201612
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	SAN.Airport
State Reference	CA
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	PA-28 Cherokee/Archer/Dakota/Pillan/Warrior
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Climb
Route In Use	VFR Route
Flight Plan	VFR
Person 1
Function	Instructor
Qualification	Flight Crew Commercial Flight Crew Flight Instructor
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 30 Flight Crew Total 575 Flight Crew Type 40
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Altitude Excursion From Assigned Altitude Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Procedural FAR

Narrative:

I was doing the san diego bay tour at 800 ft MSL. After reporting my 180 degree turn over the coronado bridge during the bay tour with a student; I was cleared for the san delta transition at 1500 ft MSL to travel northbound to myf. I misunderstood the clearance to be 500 ft MSL. I started a descent to 500 ft MSL when lindbergh tower instructed me to climb immediately. I crossed san at 1200 ft MSL and was instructed to continue to the mission bay VOR. I am a new flight instructor and new to san diego. I had practiced the bay transition earlier in the morning with another instructor with no problems and I understand my mistake. After conversing with the director of operations at my flight school; we have agreed that I will receive more training on the transition and the san diego airspace; and I will give a safety briefing at the next pilot meeting about the event.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A flight instructor reported misunderstooding the clearance altitude while on a San Diego Bay tour. They descended to 500 feet until ATC corrected them and they climbed to assigned crossing altitude.

Narrative: I was doing the San Diego Bay tour at 800 ft MSL. After reporting my 180 degree turn over the Coronado Bridge during the bay tour with a student; I was cleared for the SAN Delta transition at 1500 ft MSL to travel northbound to MYF. I misunderstood the clearance to be 500 ft MSL. I started a descent to 500 ft MSL when Lindbergh Tower instructed me to climb immediately. I crossed SAN at 1200 ft MSL and was instructed to continue to the Mission Bay VOR. I am a new flight instructor and new to San Diego. I had practiced the bay transition earlier in the morning with another instructor with no problems and I understand my mistake. After conversing with the Director of Operations at my flight school; we have agreed that I will receive more training on the transition and the San Diego airspace; and I will give a safety briefing at the next pilot meeting about the event.

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 flight instructor reported misunderstooding the clearance altitude while on a san diego bay tour. They descended to 500 feet until ATC corrected them and they climbed to assigned crossing altitude.