Narrative:

Working as the ojti with a developmental. We had recently switched runways from departing north to departing south. Local west called to get approval for an aircraft filed from slc to ZZZ. At the same time; a crj-200 checked on stating 'leaving 5;700 for 16;000.' trainee interrupted the local west controller and answered crj-200 saying 'crj-200 salt lake departure radar contact.' the aircraft should have been climbing to 14;000; not 16;000 via the wevik departure. When the trainee noticed crj-200 had climbed through 14;000 he told him the descend and maintain 14;000. I intervened and told the crj-200 to climb and maintain 16;000. I told him that he should have been assigned 14;000 by clearance delivery. He stated that he was not. I told him that I would check. Separation was never lost. I simply pointed the aircraft out to the adjacent sector and had them adjust their inbound traffic accordingly. This is a very common problem when we change from a north flow to a south flow. Any aircraft that were filed the nsign RNAV departure were not given an altitude to maintain by clearance delivery. They are expected to climb via the altitudes on the RNAV departure. When they are reissued their clearance on the wevik RNAV departure due to the runway change; they should be issued an altitude of 14;000. Often times they are not. In any case; crj-200 stated that he was maintaining the altitudes on the departure which meant that he should have crossed koogr at 14;000 and then climbed to 16;000. He left 14;000 about 15 miles prior to koogr. Recommendation; aircraft departing on any RNAV departure at slc should be assigned a hard altitude; not climb via. This would alleviate any problems when we change runways. The departure controller could climb them after initial contact.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: S56 Controller providing OJT described a pilot altitude deviation event; noting the occurrence followed a runway configuration change and altitude assignment confusion was commonplace between conventional and RNAV procedures.

Narrative: Working as the OJTI with a developmental. We had recently switched runways from departing North to departing South. Local West called to get approval for an aircraft filed from SLC to ZZZ. At the same time; a CRJ-200 checked on stating 'leaving 5;700 for 16;000.' Trainee interrupted the Local West Controller and answered CRJ-200 saying 'CRJ-200 Salt Lake Departure RADAR Contact.' The aircraft should have been climbing to 14;000; not 16;000 via the WEVIK Departure. When the trainee noticed CRJ-200 had climbed through 14;000 he told him the descend and maintain 14;000. I intervened and told the CRJ-200 to climb and maintain 16;000. I told him that he should have been assigned 14;000 by Clearance Delivery. He stated that he was not. I told him that I would check. Separation was never lost. I simply pointed the aircraft out to the adjacent sector and had them adjust their inbound traffic accordingly. This is a very common problem when we change from a North flow to a south flow. Any aircraft that were filed the NSIGN RNAV departure were not given an altitude to maintain by clearance delivery. They are expected to climb via the altitudes on the RNAV departure. When they are reissued their clearance on the WEVIK RNAV departure due to the runway change; they should be issued an altitude of 14;000. Often times they are not. In any case; CRJ-200 stated that he was maintaining the altitudes on the departure which meant that he should have crossed KOOGR at 14;000 and then climbed to 16;000. He left 14;000 about 15 miles prior to KOOGR. Recommendation; aircraft departing on any RNAV departure at SLC should be assigned a hard altitude; not climb via. This would alleviate any problems when we change runways. The Departure Controller could climb them after initial contact.

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.