A319 captain reports misunderstanding an ATC clearance to climb via as a clearance to climb to 16;00...

Attributes
ACN	1185233
Time
Date	201407
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	IAH.Airport
State Reference	TX
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	A319
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Takeoff
Route In Use	SID RITAA ONE RNAV
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Not Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 220 Flight Crew Total 17000 Flight Crew Type 4500
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Altitude Crossing Restriction Not Met Deviation - Altitude Overshoot Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

Narrative:

Departure was the ritaa one RNAV departure off of runway 15L at iah. The pre departure clearance read- climb via the RNAV with top altitude of 4;000 ft. We briefed that we would level off at 4;000 ft until cleared higher. The first officer did the takeoff while I worked the radio. On initial contact with departure control I reported leaving 2;700 ft to maintain 4;000 ft on the ritaa one RNAV. Approaching leveling off at 4;000 ft we thought the controller said; climb and maintain 16;000 ft; but later he informed us the clearance was; climb via the ritaa one maintain 16;000 ft. There is a 'at or below' crossing restriction of 4;000 ft on the SID at ttaps intersection. Because of misunderstanding the clearance; we crossed the ttaps fix above the 4;000 ft restriction. We did not conflict with any traffic. I should have listened more carefully and been better aware of the potential conflict because of the 'at or below' crossing on the RNAV SID.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A319 Captain reports misunderstanding an ATC clearance to climb via as a clearance to climb to 16;000 FT and exceeds the 'at or below' restriction at TTAPS on the RITAA 1 RNAV from IAH.

Narrative: Departure was the RITAA One RNAV Departure off of Runway 15L at IAH. The PDC read- Climb via the RNAV with top altitude of 4;000 FT. We briefed that we would level off at 4;000 FT until cleared higher. The First Officer did the takeoff while I worked the radio. On initial contact with Departure Control I reported leaving 2;700 FT to maintain 4;000 FT on the RITAA One RNAV. Approaching leveling off at 4;000 FT we thought the Controller said; climb and maintain 16;000 FT; but later he informed us the clearance was; climb via the RITAA One maintain 16;000 FT. There is a 'at or below' crossing restriction of 4;000 FT on the SID at TTAPS intersection. Because of misunderstanding the clearance; we crossed the TTAPS fix above the 4;000 FT restriction. We did not conflict with any traffic. I should have listened more carefully and been better aware of the potential conflict because of the 'at or below' crossing on the RNAV SID.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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.

A319 captain reports misunderstanding an ATC clearance to climb via as a clearance to climb to 16;000 ft and exceeds the 'at or below' restriction at ttaps on the ritaa 1 RNAV from iah.