Narrative:

Our original clearance from den was to climb via coorz three RNAV departure except maintain 10;000 feet. On departure climb; ATC cleared us to 'climb via coorz three' I had to think for a moment as to whether that terminology meant we could climb to published top altitude of FL230. After brief discussion with first officer (first officer) I remembered that yes that is what that means and he agreed. First officer reset MCP altitude to FL230 and I confirmed it by pointing at it. I remembered from our pre-departure crew briefing that there was a small print note on the departure chart that said we needed to accelerate to at or above 250 knots above 10;000 feet. I looked at altimeter and saw we were climbing through about 9;600 feet so I called for econ climb. Speed bug on speed tape advanced to about 305 knots and I lowered the pitch to begin accelerating from approximately 225 knots with a plan to be just under 250 knots as aircraft climbed through 10;000 feet with further acceleration above 10;000 feet to econ climb speed. Climb rate was now about 500 FPM and continuing to decrease. Aircraft pitch was just slightly above flight director pitch bar. That seemed normal to me as I assumed the pitch bar was directing me to accelerate which I was doing just not quite at as aggressively as the flight director was indicating. Speed was about 240 knots as the aircraft slowly climbed through 10;000 feet. At about 10;300 feet ATC said something about our crossing restriction being 10;000 feet but he said 'no problem' you're cleared to cross the next restriction at or below 11;000 feet. That was crona. It was here that I realized that the aircraft had climbed through 10;000 feet just before we had crossed the lingr departure fix with the at or below 10;000 feet restriction. I was immediately angry with myself for not catching it; for focusing on our new top altitude and speed requirements to the exclusion of the altitude restriction at lingr. I realized then that the flight director wasn't so much pitching down because of the commanded speed but because we needed to level off at 10;000 feet before crossing lingr. I also realized; that once again we as a crew are struggling with climb via procedures. When the controller cleared us to 'via...' my mind set became about continuing the climb to the correct top altitude. I didn't forget that we had crossing restrictions in between but by the time I could process the new clearance that eliminated the original 10;000 feet restriction as the top altitude the aircraft was just about through the lingr 10;000 feet restriction so I missed it.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air carrier flight crew reported an altitude deviation due to a misinterpretation of ATC instructions in regard to the published instrument departure.

Narrative: Our original clearance from DEN was to climb via COORZ THREE RNAV departure except maintain 10;000 feet. On departure climb; ATC cleared us to 'climb via COORZ THREE' I had to think for a moment as to whether that terminology meant we could climb to published top altitude of FL230. After brief discussion with First Officer (FO) I remembered that yes that is what that means and he agreed. FO reset MCP altitude to FL230 and I confirmed it by pointing at it. I remembered from our pre-departure crew briefing that there was a small print note on the departure chart that said we needed to accelerate to at or above 250 knots above 10;000 feet. I looked at altimeter and saw we were climbing through about 9;600 feet so I called for ECON CLIMB. Speed bug on speed tape advanced to about 305 knots and I lowered the pitch to begin accelerating from approximately 225 knots with a plan to be just under 250 knots as aircraft climbed through 10;000 feet with further acceleration above 10;000 feet to ECON CLIMB speed. Climb rate was now about 500 FPM and continuing to decrease. Aircraft pitch was just slightly above flight director pitch bar. That seemed normal to me as I assumed the pitch bar was directing me to accelerate which I was doing just not quite at as aggressively as the flight director was indicating. Speed was about 240 knots as the aircraft slowly climbed through 10;000 feet. At about 10;300 feet ATC said something about our crossing restriction being 10;000 feet but he said 'no problem' you're cleared to cross the next restriction at or below 11;000 feet. That was CRONA. It was here that I realized that the aircraft had climbed through 10;000 feet just before we had crossed the LINGR departure fix with the at or below 10;000 feet restriction. I was immediately angry with myself for not catching it; for focusing on our new top altitude and speed requirements to the exclusion of the altitude restriction at LINGR. I realized then that the flight director wasn't so much pitching down because of the commanded speed but because we needed to level off at 10;000 feet before crossing LINGR. I also realized; that once again we as a crew are struggling with climb via procedures. When the controller cleared us to 'via...' my mind set became about continuing the climb to the CORRECT top altitude. I didn't forget that we had crossing restrictions in between but by the time I could process the new clearance that eliminated the original 10;000 feet restriction as the top altitude the aircraft was just about through the LINGR 10;000 feet restriction so I missed it.

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.