Narrative:

Deviation from departure procedure mandatory crossing altitude: ruudy 2 RNAV departure from teb; part 91 empty leg. (No passenger). Procedure was thoroughly briefed prior to departure. Daytime VFR conditions; gusts & turbulence were in effect with heavy air traffic flow in the nyc area. Problem arose after a level off at 1;500 ft was accomplished 2 NM prior to wentz and I called and set 'next altitude 2;000 ft'; the crossing restriction for tasca 2 NM after wentz. The pilot flying understood ATC had cleared us to 2;000 ft when I made the callout 'next altitude is 2;000 ft; set' and departed crossing altitude 1 NM from fix. ATC immediately queried altitude and I responded 'leveling off 2;000 ft; returning to 1;500 ft' the controller replied 'don't do that; continue the climb to 6;000 ft and turn heading 090.' in effect we crossed wentz at about 1;850 ft. These events took approximately ten-fifteen seconds to unfold once we left 1;500 ft. Contributing factors: turbulence and gusts; loud cockpit noise; the pilot flying was having doubts about the performance of the autopilot and disconnected the autopilot and proceeded to hand fly the aircraft. I (pilot not flying) was heads down in the cockpit and failed to notice the premature climb about 1 NM from fix. Problem was discovered only after ATC queried altitude and no corrective actions were made to descend because ATC re-cleared us to next altitude. Our pilots are trained to set 'next altitude' prior to crossing fix; I just completed recurrent training in last month. Maybe our company should revaluate this as an SOP and not teach changing altitude alerter prior to fixes. Further; I think the company should invest in better noise-cancelling headsets for each aircraft to reduce communication errors inside the cockpit.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Light Transport flight crew thoroughly briefed the TEB RUUDY TWO Departure but in a miscommunication the non-flying pilot set 2;000 FT in the VNAV and the pilot flying began the climb early. Noise and turbulence added to the confusion and ATC instructed them to continue the climb.

Narrative: Deviation from departure procedure mandatory crossing altitude: RUUDY 2 RNAV Departure from TEB; Part 91 empty leg. (No passenger). Procedure was thoroughly briefed prior to departure. Daytime VFR conditions; gusts & turbulence were in effect with heavy air traffic flow in the NYC area. Problem arose after a level off at 1;500 FT was accomplished 2 NM prior to WENTZ and I called and set 'Next Altitude 2;000 FT'; the crossing restriction for TASCA 2 NM after WENTZ. The pilot flying understood ATC had cleared us to 2;000 FT when I made the callout 'Next Altitude is 2;000 FT; Set' and departed crossing altitude 1 NM from fix. ATC immediately queried altitude and I responded 'leveling off 2;000 FT; returning to 1;500 FT' The Controller replied 'don't do that; continue the climb to 6;000 FT and turn heading 090.' In effect we crossed WENTZ at about 1;850 FT. These events took approximately ten-fifteen seconds to unfold once we left 1;500 FT. Contributing Factors: Turbulence and gusts; loud cockpit noise; the pilot flying was having doubts about the performance of the autopilot and disconnected the autopilot and proceeded to hand fly the aircraft. I (pilot not flying) was heads down in the cockpit and failed to notice the premature climb about 1 NM from fix. Problem was discovered only after ATC queried altitude and no corrective actions were made to descend because ATC re-cleared us to next altitude. Our pilots are trained to set 'Next Altitude' prior to crossing fix; I just completed recurrent training in last month. Maybe our company should revaluate this as an SOP and not teach changing altitude alerter prior to fixes. Further; I think the company should invest in better noise-cancelling headsets for each aircraft to reduce communication errors inside the cockpit.

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.