A B737-300's right wing leading edge transit lights did not extinguish after takeoff; but because of...

Narrative:

On initial climbout; the right wing leading edge flaps did not retract. I flew the airplane and worked the radios while the captain ran the checklist and coordinated with dispatch. The main body of the checklist was followed by the conditional section of the checklist; which dealt with airspeed limitations. The main body of the checklist noted a maximum altitude of 20;000 ft. Coordinating with dispatch; it was determined we would be able to continue onto our destination. We then referred back to the airspeed limitation and neglected to consider the altitude limitation; which was written above in the main body of the checklist. I informed ATC of our intentions and was given an altitude above FL200; which we accepted. Passing FL270; the captain was reviewing the checklist again and realized our error. We immediately requested a descent to FL200 and were given a clearance to FL190. We immediately descended and maintained FL190 as our cruise altitude. No problems were encountered. I think it would be a big help to add a final section to the end of each checklist; which summarizes any operational limitations for a given condition.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B737-300's right wing Leading Edge Transit Lights did not extinguish after takeoff; but because of normal flight control feel; the flight continued to its destination with the 300KTS/.65 Mach constraint. The flight did exceed the FL200 constrain for a period of time before descending to FL190.

Narrative: On initial climbout; the right wing leading edge flaps did not retract. I flew the airplane and worked the radios while the Captain ran the checklist and coordinated with Dispatch. The main body of the checklist was followed by the conditional section of the checklist; which dealt with airspeed limitations. The main body of the checklist noted a maximum altitude of 20;000 FT. Coordinating with Dispatch; it was determined we would be able to continue onto our destination. We then referred back to the airspeed limitation and neglected to consider the altitude limitation; which was written above in the main body of the checklist. I informed ATC of our intentions and was given an altitude above FL200; which we accepted. Passing FL270; the Captain was reviewing the checklist again and realized our error. We immediately requested a descent to FL200 and were given a clearance to FL190. We immediately descended and maintained FL190 as our cruise altitude. No problems were encountered. I think it would be a big help to add a final section to the end of each checklist; which summarizes any operational limitations for a given condition.

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	1088903
Time
Date	201305
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.ARTCC
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737-300
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Climb
Component
Aircraft Component	Flap/Slat Indication
Person 1
Function	First Officer Pilot Flying
Person 2
Function	Captain Pilot Not Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 141
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Deviation - Altitude Overshoot Deviation - Procedural MEL Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

A B737-300's right wing leading edge transit lights did not extinguish after takeoff; but because of normal flight control feel; the flight continued to its destination with the 300KTS/.65 mach constraint. The flight did exceed the FL200 constrain for a period of time before descending to FL190.