A corporate flight crew received an ATC alert about traffic at FL330 as they descended to FL340. Whi...

Attributes
ACN	1367374
Time
Date	201606
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZME.ARTCC
State Reference	TN
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Medium Transport Low Wing 2 Turbojet Eng
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Descent
Route In Use	Direct
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 82 Flight Crew Total 15423 Flight Crew Type 1069
Person 2
Function	Pilot Not Flying First Officer
Qualification	Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 55 Flight Crew Total 7805 Flight Crew Type 830
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Conflict Airborne Conflict Deviation - Altitude Overshoot Deviation - Altitude Excursion From Assigned Altitude Deviation - Procedural Clearance

Narrative:

While descending to our destination; we were given an initial descent to FL340. Just prior to level off we were given FL330 to which the first officer dialed in FL330 on the altitude alerter and read back 330 to the controller. Prior to reaching FL330 we were given further descent to FL240 and continued to descend per instruction. Prior to hand off from mem center we were told to contact mem center by phone upon landing and we complied as instructed. Upon hearing the report given to us we (the crew) discussed the events of the descent and neither of us recalled hearing the call out of crossing traffic at FL330 but the first officer thought he heard for us to continue our descent to FL330 and read back 330 and we continued as stated above. The controller never advised of any deviation to a given clearance nor did we receive any TCAS alerts or warnings of traffic. We were unaware of any deviations on our part it was as we thought a normal descent per instructions by ATC.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A corporate flight crew received an ATC alert about traffic at FL330 as they descended to FL340. While listening to destination ATIS; the First Officer mistook the FL330 as their clearance and because he put it the ALTITUDE window; the pilot flying continued to FL330 in error.

Narrative: While descending to our destination; we were given an initial descent to FL340. Just prior to level off we were given FL330 to which the first officer dialed in FL330 on the Altitude alerter and read back 330 to the controller. Prior to reaching FL330 we were given further descent to FL240 and continued to descend per instruction. Prior to hand off from MEM center we were told to contact MEM center by phone upon landing and we complied as instructed. Upon hearing the report given to us we (the crew) discussed the events of the descent and neither of us recalled hearing the call out of crossing traffic at FL330 but the first officer thought he heard for us to continue our descent to FL330 and read back 330 and we continued as stated above. The controller never advised of any deviation to a given clearance nor did we receive any TCAS alerts or warnings of traffic. We were unaware of any deviations on our part it was as we thought a normal descent per instructions by ATC.

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.

A corporate flight crew received an ATC alert about traffic at FL330 as they descended to FL340. While listening to destination ATIS; the first officer mistook the FL330 as their clearance and because he put it the altitude window; the pilot flying continued to FL330 in error.