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Distracted by a malfunctioning autopilot and led astray by an improperly reset altimeter; the flight crew of a B767 overshot their cleared altitude.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 841861 |
| Time | |
| Date | 200906 |
| Local Time Of Day | 0601-1200 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | LFPG.Airport |
| State Reference | FO |
| Environment | |
| Flight Conditions | VMC |
| Light | Daylight |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | Boeing Company Undifferentiated or Other Model |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
| Flight Phase | Climb |
| Route In Use | SID ATREX 1A RNAV |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Component | |
| Aircraft Component | Altimeter |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | First Officer Pilot Flying |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Deviation - Altitude Overshoot Deviation - Procedural FAR |
Narrative:
The center autopilot was on MEL and deactivated; and we were taking off on 27L at charles gaulle airport with the atrex 1A RNAV SID. After the right turn; approximately and above 1000 afe; I called for engagement of the right autopilot. We subsequently received an 'autopilot' EICAS; indicating a degraded mode. The aircraft started to veer off track; so I disconnected the right autopilot; hand flew and called for engagement of the left autopilot. Climbing through the transition altitude; I made the appropriate callout; and set my altimeter to 1013HPA. The captain responded and set hers too. At FL100; the aircraft did not level off until 10300 MSL. I looked over at the captain's altimeter; which had been set wrong to 992 hpa. The two windows are confusing; and the correct setting was applied; and the aircraft descended back to FL100. Since we only had one autopilot; the left; the left FCC was controlling the aircraft parameters. Departure control queried us as to the high level off; and stated traffic above us 1000 ft off to the right. We corrected very quickly; and proceeded for the remainder of the flight with no further incident. Losing an autopilot at 1200 afe is a major loss of system redundancy; and since the departure was an RNAV departure; it was required by procedure to engage. This incident provided a great distraction at a critical phase of flight. Also; the improper setting of the altimeter by the pilot monitoring contributed; but if the right autopilot had been operable; this incident would not have happened.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: Distracted by a malfunctioning autopilot and led astray by an improperly reset altimeter; the flight crew of a B767 overshot their cleared altitude.
Narrative: The center autopilot was on MEL and deactivated; and we were taking off on 27L at Charles Gaulle airport with the ATREX 1A RNAV SID. After the right turn; approximately and above 1000 AFE; I called for engagement of the right autopilot. We subsequently received an 'autopilot' EICAS; indicating a degraded mode. The aircraft started to veer off track; so I disconnected the right autopilot; hand flew and called for engagement of the left autopilot. Climbing through the transition altitude; I made the appropriate callout; and set my altimeter to 1013HPA. The Captain responded and set hers too. At FL100; the aircraft did not level off until 10300 MSL. I looked over at the Captain's altimeter; which had been set wrong to 992 HPA. The two windows are confusing; and the correct setting was applied; and the aircraft descended back to FL100. Since we only had one autopilot; the left; the left FCC was controlling the aircraft parameters. Departure control queried us as to the high level off; and stated traffic above us 1000 FT off to the right. We corrected very quickly; and proceeded for the remainder of the flight with no further incident. Losing an autopilot at 1200 AFE is a major loss of system redundancy; and since the departure was an RNAV departure; it was required by procedure to engage. This incident provided a great distraction at a critical phase of flight. Also; the improper setting of the altimeter by the pilot monitoring contributed; but if the right autopilot had been operable; this incident would not have happened.
Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.