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A tired B767-300ER flight crew suffered a momentary altitude excursion before they could get a clarification to a confusing clearance.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 976953 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201110 |
| Local Time Of Day | 1201-1800 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | N90.TRACON |
| State Reference | NY |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | B767-300 and 300 ER |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
| Flight Phase | Descent |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | First Officer |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Deviation - Altitude Overshoot Deviation - Procedural Clearance |
Narrative:
At the end of our nine hour flight we were given a descent to 12;000 ft. We were then given a clearance direct rober. The next clearance we were given was abeam rober to slow to 250 KTS and I thought I was cleared to 9;000 as on the STAR. Since we were cleared direct rober; I was confused with the clearance. The controller was giving a clearance to someone else so I couldn't confirm the confusion instantly. I attempted to clarify the clearance and a supervisor came on and clarified direct to rober abeam (a previous fix) slow to 250 KTS. At this point the captain questioned the descent to 9;000 and started to slow the descent as we approached 12;000. I read back our full clearance including the descent to 9;000 and the controller clarified to stop descent at 12;000 and that we'd get lower from approach. The controller didn't seem to have an issue with our descent through 12;000 to 11;600. We climbed back to 12;000 with no other issues.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: A tired B767-300ER flight crew suffered a momentary altitude excursion before they could get a clarification to a confusing clearance.
Narrative: At the end of our nine hour flight we were given a descent to 12;000 FT. We were then given a clearance direct ROBER. The next clearance we were given was abeam ROBER to slow to 250 KTS and I thought I was cleared to 9;000 as on the STAR. Since we were cleared direct ROBER; I was confused with the clearance. The Controller was giving a clearance to someone else so I couldn't confirm the confusion instantly. I attempted to clarify the clearance and a supervisor came on and clarified direct to ROBER abeam (a previous fix) slow to 250 KTS. At this point the Captain questioned the descent to 9;000 and started to slow the descent as we approached 12;000. I read back our full clearance including the descent to 9;000 and the Controller clarified to stop descent at 12;000 and that we'd get lower from Approach. The Controller didn't seem to have an issue with our descent through 12;000 to 11;600. We climbed back to 12;000 with no other issues.
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.