<< >> NASA ASRS Report 861221, November 2009

Spim ATC issued a climb clearance to FL340 but passing FL325 advised the B767 crew that their clearance was only to FL320.

Attributes
ACN	861221
Time
Date	200911
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	SPIM.ARTCC
State Reference	FO
Environment
Flight Conditions	IMC
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B767-300 and 300 ER
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Climb Cruise
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	First Officer Pilot Not Flying
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types

Narrative:

During cruise at FL300 we requested climb to FL320 but were initially informed that was unavailable due to traffic. A bit later; lima said they had FL340 available; so we requested; received and acknowledged clearance to climb to FL340. Climbing through FL325; lima informed us we were only cleared to FL320. Maximum altitude reached was FL328 before descending back to FL320. Both pilots had no doubt that we had received clearance to FL340 and were quite surprised when the controller sent us back down to FL320. ATC insisted she has cleared us only to FL320.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: SPIM ATC issued a climb clearance to FL340 but passing FL325 advised the B767 crew that their clearance was only to FL320.

Narrative: During cruise at FL300 we requested climb to FL320 but were initially informed that was unavailable due to traffic. A bit later; Lima said they had FL340 available; so we requested; received and acknowledged clearance to climb to FL340. Climbing through FL325; Lima informed us we were only cleared to FL320. Maximum altitude reached was FL328 before descending back to FL320. Both pilots had no doubt that we had received clearance to FL340 and were quite surprised when the Controller sent us back down to FL320. ATC insisted she has cleared us only to FL320.

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.