Flight crew returning to a previous altitude because of turbulence overshot the assigned altitude.

Attributes
ACN	523000
Time
Date	200108
Day	Sat
Local Time Of Day	1801 To 2400
Place
Locale Reference	atc facility : zla.artcc
State Reference	CA
Altitude	msl bound lower : 36300 msl bound upper : 37000
Environment
Flight Conditions	IMC
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Controlling Facilities	tower : mslp.tower
Operator	common carrier : air carrier
Make Model Name	A320
Flight Phase	cruise : enroute altitude change
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Affiliation	company : air carrier
Function	flight crew : captain oversight : pic
Qualification	pilot : atp
Experience	flight time type : 1751
ASRS Report	523000
Events
Anomaly	altitude deviation : overshoot inflight encounter : weather inflight encounter : turbulence non adherence : clearance
Resolutory Action	aircraft : automation overrode flight crew flight crew : overrode automation flight crew : returned to assigned altitude none taken : detected after the fact
Supplementary
Problem Areas	Aircraft Flight Crew Human Performance
Primary Problem	Flight Crew Human Performance
Air Traffic Incident	Pilot Deviation

Narrative:

While circumventing a line of WX, crew requested a climb from FL370 to FL390. Turbulence degraded aircraft performance and crew requested to return back to FL370. Captain selected vertical speed descent but did not re-enter FL370 in altitude window. At FL363 ATC asked crew to verify altitude. We did and returned to our cleared altitude of FL370.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: FLT CREW RETURNING TO A PREVIOUS ALT BECAUSE OF TURB OVERSHOT THE ASSIGNED ALT.

Narrative: WHILE CIRCUMVENTING A LINE OF WX, CREW REQUESTED A CLB FROM FL370 TO FL390. TURB DEGRADED ACFT PERFORMANCE AND CREW REQUESTED TO RETURN BACK TO FL370. CAPT SELECTED VERT SPD DSCNT BUT DID NOT RE-ENTER FL370 IN ALT WINDOW. AT FL363 ATC ASKED CREW TO VERIFY ALT. WE DID AND RETURNED TO OUR CLRED ALT OF FL370.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2007 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.