Narrative:

We were instructed taking the runway to climb to 5;000 feet. When contacted departure control we were questioned about why were at 5;000 feet instead of 3;000 feet. The SRKUS4 departure is the assigned SID that we were cleared. On the chart it depicts climb to 3;000 feet. But tower assigned us 5;000 feet after takeoff. No deviations were made. Depicted altitudes on charts should be in bold type along with speed restrictions. And ATC could have been clearer on his assigned altitude. I also believe that climb via sids should be clearer on altitudes because it sets you up for errors such as this.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: CE-680 flight crew reported climbing above assigned altitude on departure due to crew miscommunication.

Narrative: We were instructed taking the runway to climb to 5;000 feet. When contacted departure control we were questioned about why were at 5;000 feet instead of 3;000 feet. The SRKUS4 departure is the assigned SID that we were cleared. On the chart it depicts climb to 3;000 feet. But tower assigned us 5;000 feet after takeoff. No deviations were made. Depicted altitudes on charts should be in bold type along with speed restrictions. And ATC could have been clearer on his assigned altitude. I also believe that Climb via SIDS should be clearer on altitudes because it sets you up for errors such as this.

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.