Altitude bust. - NASA ASRS

Attributes
ACN	143317
Time
Date	199004
Day	Tue
Local Time Of Day	1201 To 1800
Place
Locale Reference	atc facility : zid
State Reference	IN
Altitude	msl bound lower : 31000 msl bound upper : 32500
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Controlling Facilities	artcc : zid
Operator	common carrier : air carrier
Make Model Name	Medium Large Transport, Low Wing, 2 Turbojet Eng
Navigation In Use	Other Other
Flight Phase	climbout : intermediate altitude
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Affiliation	company : air carrier
Function	flight crew : captain oversight : pic
Qualification	pilot : atp
Experience	flight time last 90 days : 150 flight time total : 9000 flight time type : 150
ASRS Report	194330
Person 2
Affiliation	company : air carrier
Function	flight crew : first officer
Qualification	pilot : instrument pilot : commercial
Events
Anomaly	altitude deviation : excursion from assigned altitude non adherence : clearance other anomaly other
Independent Detector	other controllera
Resolutory Action	controller : issued new clearance flight crew : returned to intended course or assigned course other
Consequence	Other
Supplementary
Primary Problem	Ambiguous
Air Traffic Incident	Operational Deviation Pilot Deviation

Narrative:

ZID climbing out cleared to FL350 and read back FL350. At 32500' ZID asked our altitude. Told them FL325. They said we were only cleared to FL310, and they must have missed the readback. We descended to FL310.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ALT BUST.

Narrative: ZID CLBING OUT CLRED TO FL350 AND READ BACK FL350. AT 32500' ZID ASKED OUR ALT. TOLD THEM FL325. THEY SAID WE WERE ONLY CLRED TO FL310, AND THEY MUST HAVE MISSED THE READBACK. WE DSNDED TO FL310.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2007 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.