A B757 captain's altimeter was inadvertently set to meters so when the aircraft did not level at the...

Narrative:

At the gate distraction of a cell phone contact with dispatch to report significant serious legs error on filed departure (a right 360 turn) during before starting engines checklist led to oversight on flight instruments and bugs check. Failed to see meters mode set on captain's dcp. Refiled with clearance to fly a different SID routing; creating compounding distraction in checklist compliance. On climbout; the MCP was set to 7;000 in the flch mode 180; but the autopilot climbed to between 7;600-7;700 ft with no altitude deviation alert. Pilot monitoring identified deviation; directed descent. Pilot flying directed the pilot monitoring to take the aircraft and return to 7;000 ft since the pilot monitoring had correct altimeter display. Neither altitude deviation nor loss of separation reported by ATC departure control. Neither resolution advisory nor traffic advisory alert. Very insidious danger since the meters annunciation is small font buried in the flat panel display data; but resulting in virtually no alert. The aircraft probably would have continued climb to 7;000 meters. The 757 system does not alert the disagreement when the pilot flying has meters selected and the pilot monitoring has ft. Apparently the autopilot prioritized meters over ft. The operating manual is vague about the details.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B757 Captain's altimeter was inadvertently set to meters so when the aircraft did not level at the 7;000 FT SID constraint the confused Captain gave the aircraft to the First Officer.

Narrative: At the gate distraction of a cell phone contact with Dispatch to report significant serious legs error on filed departure (a right 360 turn) during Before Starting Engines Checklist led to oversight on flight instruments and bugs check. Failed to see METERS mode set on Captain's DCP. Refiled with clearance to fly a different SID routing; creating compounding distraction in checklist compliance. On climbout; the MCP was set to 7;000 in the FLCH mode 180; but the autopilot climbed to between 7;600-7;700 FT with no altitude deviation alert. Pilot Monitoring identified deviation; directed descent. Pilot Flying directed the Pilot Monitoring to take the aircraft and return to 7;000 FT since the Pilot Monitoring had correct altimeter display. Neither altitude deviation nor loss of separation reported by ATC Departure Control. Neither Resolution Advisory nor Traffic Advisory alert. Very insidious danger since the METERS annunciation is small font buried in the flat panel display data; but resulting in virtually no alert. The aircraft probably would have continued climb to 7;000 meters. The 757 system does not alert the disagreement when the Pilot Flying has meters selected and the Pilot Monitoring has FT. Apparently the autopilot prioritized meters over FT. The Operating Manual is vague about the details.

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	1118034
Time
Date	201309
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.ARTCC
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B757-200
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Climb
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	MCP
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Deviation - Altitude Overshoot Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Deviation - Procedural Clearance

A B757 captain's altimeter was inadvertently set to meters so when the aircraft did not level at the 7;000 ft SID constraint the confused captain gave the aircraft to the first officer.