A corporate crew departed on the teb 8 departure and because of confusion the autoflight system did ...

Narrative:

Departing runway 1 at teb on the teterboro 8 departure; we briefed the departure procedure twice before takeoff. My copilot initially exhibited some confusion over when to initiate the turn to a 040 heading; based on the way the FMS presented the information. After discussing it; I felt that he was clear on the procedure. However; after liftoff and passing through 400 ft AGL; I asked for heading mode (which was preset to 040); and he hesitated as if he still wasn't sure that we should turn at that point. I asked again for heading mode and autopilot on; and began to turn the plane. He selected heading mode and pressed the autopilot button before responding to teb tower request to contact departure. I began to prepare for the next turn to 280; when upon reaching 2;000 ft (the initial level off altitude) we both realized that the plane wasn't going to level off; even though the flight director was commanding an altitude capture. It was then that we both realized the autopilot had never engaged and by the time I reacted to bring the nose down; we had already reached 2;500 ft. In addition; while concentrating on descending back to 2;000 ft; we both temporarily lost situational awareness and continued on the 040 heading approximately 1.2 miles past the published DME distance to initiate the turn to 280. New york TRACON subsequently gave us a heading to 'get back in my airspace;' and we promptly complied. In retrospect; the FMS is capable of flying the entire departure; and we should have taken off in 'navigation' mode and let it do just that. This would have alleviated the confusion over whether or not to engage heading mode; and would have simplified the copilot's action item to simply engaging the autopilot. Also; I need to be more cognizant of whether both pilots agree on the procedure before takeoff; and whether or not the autopilot actually engages when pressed. Long day; busy departure procedure; relatively low time in type; and a slightly confused copilot were contributing factors.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Corporate crew departed on the TEB 8 departure and because of confusion the autoflight system did not engage so the turn at 2.3 DME and the level off at 2;000 FT were both missed.

Narrative: Departing Runway 1 at TEB on the Teterboro 8 departure; we briefed the departure procedure twice before takeoff. My copilot initially exhibited some confusion over when to initiate the turn to a 040 heading; based on the way the FMS presented the information. After discussing it; I felt that he was clear on the procedure. However; after liftoff and passing through 400 FT AGL; I asked for heading mode (which was preset to 040); and he hesitated as if he still wasn't sure that we should turn at that point. I asked again for heading mode and autopilot on; and began to turn the plane. He selected heading mode and pressed the autopilot button before responding to TEB Tower request to contact Departure. I began to prepare for the next turn to 280; when upon reaching 2;000 FT (the initial level off altitude) we both realized that the plane wasn't going to level off; even though the flight director was commanding an altitude capture. It was then that we both realized the autopilot had never engaged and by the time I reacted to bring the nose down; we had already reached 2;500 FT. In addition; while concentrating on descending back to 2;000 FT; we both temporarily lost situational awareness and continued on the 040 heading approximately 1.2 miles past the published DME distance to initiate the turn to 280. New York TRACON subsequently gave us a heading to 'get back in my airspace;' and we promptly complied. In retrospect; the FMS is capable of flying the entire departure; and we should have taken off in 'NAV' mode and let it do just that. This would have alleviated the confusion over whether or not to engage heading mode; and would have simplified the copilot's action item to simply engaging the autopilot. Also; I need to be more cognizant of whether both pilots agree on the procedure before takeoff; and whether or not the autopilot actually engages when pressed. Long day; busy departure procedure; relatively low time in type; and a slightly confused copilot were contributing factors.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 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.

Attributes
ACN	1042158
Time
Date	201210
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	TEB.Airport
State Reference	NJ
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Gulfstream G200 (IAI 1126 Galaxy)
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Takeoff
Route In Use	SID Teterboro 8
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Multiengine
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 60 Flight Crew Total 6000 Flight Crew Type 60
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Altitude Overshoot Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

A corporate crew departed on the teb 8 departure and because of confusion the autoflight system did not engage so the turn at 2.3 DME and the level off at 2;000 ft were both missed.