Narrative:

Departing hong kong we were climbing to an initial altitude assigned by ATC. The controller had us on radar vectors and we were told to 'expect' 6;900 meters. We confirmed that we would expect 6;900 meters. Shortly after the controller said what we believed was 'quit climb' so I pressed the altitude hold switch to stop our climb. The aircraft pitched the nose over slightly to capture the altitude we were at when the altitude hold switch was pushed. The controller once again stated what we thought was 'quit climb; quit climb' so we responded saying that we have stopped our climb. The controller then responded in a slightly agitated tone 'aircraft X; I show you descending; quit climb.' at this point we asked the controller for clarification and he responded with 'quit climb to 6;900 meters.' we then realized that what he actually was asking for was an expedited climb (he may have been saying 'quick climb') to 6;900 meters. The non-standard ATC phraseology coupled with the heavy accent of the controller had caused a large communication error resulting in a level off at an altitude that was not requested by ATC.at this time we believe that this was caused due to the use of non-standard ATC phraseology in combination with the strong accent of the controller. These two factors made the departure a very confusing situation. If we queried the controller even more than we did it is possible that we may have understood the ATC instructions more clearly. Even hours after the event us four flight crew members cannot say with certainty whether he was saying 'quit climb' or 'quick climb.'

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B777 flight crew reported experiencing an altitude deviation during departure from VHHH airport. ATC phraseology and language barrier problems were cited as contributing factors.

Narrative: Departing Hong Kong we were climbing to an initial altitude assigned by ATC. The controller had us on radar vectors and we were told to 'expect' 6;900 meters. We confirmed that we would expect 6;900 meters. Shortly after the controller said what we believed was 'Quit Climb' so I pressed the altitude hold switch to stop our climb. The aircraft pitched the nose over slightly to capture the altitude we were at when the altitude hold switch was pushed. The controller once again stated what we thought was 'Quit climb; quit climb' so we responded saying that we have stopped our climb. The controller then responded in a slightly agitated tone 'Aircraft X; I show you descending; Quit Climb.' At this point we asked the controller for clarification and he responded with 'Quit Climb to 6;900 meters.' We then realized that what he actually was asking for was an expedited climb (he may have been saying 'Quick Climb') to 6;900 meters. The non-standard ATC phraseology coupled with the heavy accent of the controller had caused a large communication error resulting in a level off at an altitude that was not requested by ATC.At this time we believe that this was caused due to the use of Non-Standard ATC phraseology in combination with the strong accent of the controller. These two factors made the departure a very confusing situation. If we queried the controller even more than we did it is possible that we may have understood the ATC instructions more clearly. Even hours after the event us four flight crew members cannot say with certainty whether he was saying 'Quit Climb' or 'Quick Climb.'

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.