ZME controller described an altitude deviation during a descent clearance; the reports indicating th...

Narrative:

I issued an airbus a clearance to descend via the Mash1 arrival. At the time I issued the clearance; the aircraft was over sector 13's airspace at FL240. The airbus was supposed to cross fason at or above FL240. Fason is in my airspace. I observed the airbus descending so I told the R12/132 controller to watch the aircraft. I asked the pilot to say altitude and he stated FL240. So; I asked him if he was on the local altimeter setting and he replied affirmative. He went on to say that his company had a new policy to use local altimeter settings as soon as a clearance is issued below FL180. I think the new policy should be reviewed. It seems dangerous to use local altimeters above FL180 even in descent mode. The possibility always exists that the aircraft could be stopped later for traffic while still in the flight levels. If this occurred; the flight crew would have to remember to reset the altimeter to 29.92. I doubt that here is a checklist for this. It seems safer to change altimeter setting when going through FL180. The airspace and procedures office has contacted the subject company about this incident.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ZME Controller described an altitude deviation during a descent clearance; the reports indicating the flight crew entered the local altimeter setting prematurely.

Narrative: I issued an Airbus a clearance to descend via the Mash1 arrival. At the time I issued the clearance; the aircraft was over Sector 13's airspace at FL240. The Airbus was supposed to cross FASON at or above FL240. FASON is in my airspace. I observed the Airbus descending so I told the R12/132 Controller to watch the aircraft. I asked the pilot to say altitude and he stated FL240. So; I asked him if he was on the local altimeter setting and he replied affirmative. He went on to say that his company had a new policy to use local altimeter settings as soon as a clearance is issued below FL180. I think the new policy should be reviewed. It seems dangerous to use local altimeters above FL180 even in descent mode. The possibility always exists that the aircraft could be stopped later for traffic while still in the flight levels. If this occurred; the flight crew would have to remember to reset the altimeter to 29.92. I doubt that here is a checklist for this. It seems safer to change altimeter setting when going through FL180. The Airspace and Procedures Office has contacted the subject company about this incident.

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	1054210
Time
Date	201212
Local Time Of Day	0001-0600
Place
Locale Reference	ZME.ARTCC
State Reference	TN
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Airbus Industrie Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Cruise
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Enroute
Qualification	Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Person 2
Function	First Officer Pilot Not Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Altitude Excursion From Assigned Altitude Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

ZME controller described an altitude deviation during a descent clearance; the reports indicating the flight crew entered the local altimeter setting prematurely.