Narrative:

While executing the ruudy 4 departure out of teb off runway 24; I leveled at 1;500 feet as required; with 1;500 feet set in the altitude alerter at the time. About the same time I was leveling off and adjusting power to keep the speed in check; my first officer reached over and set 2;000 ft on the altitude alerter; while saying something I did not hear clearly; which distracted me somewhat. At about that same time; I heard an altitude alert and saw 2;000 ft in amber in the alerter window and thought I was late in beginning the climb to cross ruudy at 2;000 ft. In so thinking; I started the climb without verifying that we had in fact passed wentz first. Just as we were reaching 2;000 ft; I realized my mistake and ATC called and mentioned our mistake. We acknowledged our error; apologized sincerely; after which he cleared us on. The controller was very professional and told us there was no traffic conflict this time but did emphasize the importance of adhering to the procedure for obvious reasons and to be more careful in the future. Set the highest altitude for the procedure in the altitude alerter during initial set up; rather than the initial limit; to limit the amount of knob turning necessary at a busy time during climb out; or if not; the pilot setting the new altitude 'stating' that he/she is setting the altitude for the next restriction but that 'we haven't passed the previous restriction fix yet'; if such is the case. Me; the pilot flying doing the professional thing and actually verifying having passed the previous altitude restricted fix. Something I did not do this particular time. Use the autopilot sooner in the departure to reduce the work load at a busy time. One of my tendencies is to like to hand fly on climb out up to 10;000 ft and below 10;000 ft on decent in order to stay proficient.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: CE560 flight crew reports climbing early on the RUUDY 4 departure from TEB when distracted by the altitude alerter being reset to 2;000 feet by the First Officer.

Narrative: While executing the RUUDY 4 departure out of TEB off runway 24; I leveled at 1;500 feet as required; with 1;500 feet set in the altitude alerter at the time. About the same time I was leveling off and adjusting power to keep the speed in check; my FO reached over and set 2;000 FT on the altitude alerter; while saying something I did not hear clearly; which distracted me somewhat. At about that same time; I heard an altitude alert and saw 2;000 FT in amber in the alerter window and thought I was late in beginning the climb to cross RUUDY at 2;000 FT. In so thinking; I started the climb without verifying that we had in fact passed WENTZ first. Just as we were reaching 2;000 FT; I realized my mistake and ATC called and mentioned our mistake. We acknowledged our error; apologized sincerely; after which he cleared us on. The controller was very professional and told us there was no traffic conflict this time but did emphasize the importance of adhering to the procedure for obvious reasons and to be more careful in the future. Set the highest altitude for the procedure in the altitude alerter during initial set up; rather than the initial limit; to limit the amount of knob turning necessary at a busy time during climb out; or if not; the pilot setting the new altitude 'stating' that he/she is setting the altitude for the next restriction but that 'we haven't passed the previous restriction fix yet'; if such is the case. Me; the pilot flying doing the professional thing and actually verifying having passed the previous altitude restricted fix. Something I did not do this particular time. Use the autopilot sooner in the departure to reduce the work load at a busy time. One of my tendencies is to like to hand fly on climb out up to 10;000 FT and below 10;000 FT on decent in order to stay proficient.

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.