Narrative:

Initial clearance included a SID; which includes a turn to a heading from the runway heading to intercept a radial to a fix. I had the procedure loaded in the GPS. We had to wait for other aircraft to depart; so I took the time to load the radial in my primary navigation system; which required changing navigation modes to VOR. I neglected to change the navigation mode back to heading before departing; so when navigation was selected on the autopilot; the autopilot flew to intercept the radial; not the intended heading. I was cleared direct the fix and to 6000 ft MSL. I corrected the heading late and then climbed as high as 6400 ft MSL before descending back to 6000 ft. I was given direct an enroute fix and cleared to 16;000 ft MSL. On the track; while at 16;000 ft; I requested FL180; which was unavailable; and I was cleared on FL200. Upon reaching FL200; the winds seemed high; so I requested 16;000 ft MSL again. I reset altimeter for the location. Later I requested higher and the request was granted. I failed to reset my altimeters to 29.92; and so flew at an incorrect altitude until asked by center some time later to verify altitude. I was just coming off a cold and had just finished recurrent training for the pc-12. The simulator work for the recurrent is intense and resulted in mental fatigue. The simulator training focuses on emergencies and very little ordinary flying technique; so my standard navigation practice was rusty. Although I set up the navigation properly in my aircraft's systems I failed to think through the execution of each step of the navigation prior to takeoff. As it was VMC; I did not prepare as well as I should have for the execution of the loaded flight plan. My poor early performance decreased my cognitive capacity further.

Related reports:

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A PC12 pilot experienced fatigue and had several track and altitude deviations on his departure and flight during which he climbed as high as FL200.

Narrative: Initial clearance included a SID; which includes a turn to a heading from the runway heading to intercept a radial to a fix. I had the procedure loaded in the GPS. We had to wait for other aircraft to depart; so I took the time to load the radial in my primary NAV system; which required changing NAV modes to VOR. I neglected to change the NAV mode back to heading before departing; so when NAV was selected on the autopilot; the autopilot flew to intercept the radial; not the intended heading. I was cleared direct the fix and to 6000 FT MSL. I corrected the heading late and then climbed as high as 6400 FT MSL before descending back to 6000 FT. I was given direct an enroute fix and cleared to 16;000 FT MSL. On the track; while at 16;000 FT; I requested FL180; which was unavailable; and I was cleared on FL200. Upon reaching FL200; the winds seemed high; so I requested 16;000 FT MSL again. I reset altimeter for the location. Later I requested higher and the request was granted. I failed to reset my altimeters to 29.92; and so flew at an incorrect altitude until asked by Center some time later to verify altitude. I was just coming off a cold and had just finished recurrent training for the PC-12. The simulator work for the recurrent is intense and resulted in mental fatigue. The simulator training focuses on emergencies and very little ordinary flying technique; so my standard navigation practice was rusty. Although I set up the navigation properly in my aircraft's systems I failed to think through the execution of each step of the navigation prior to takeoff. As it was VMC; I did not prepare as well as I should have for the execution of the loaded flight plan. My poor early performance decreased my cognitive capacity further.

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.