Citation pilot reported an altitude deviation due to a loud window leak noise interfering with radio...

Attributes
ACN	1512142
Time
Date	201801
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	PIT.Airport
State Reference	PA
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Citation Excel (C560XL)
Flight Phase	Initial Climb
Route In Use	Vectors
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Cockpit Window
Person 1
Function	First Officer Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Multiengine
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 150 Flight Crew Total 32000 Flight Crew Type 275
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Deviation - Altitude Overshoot Deviation - Procedural Clearance Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Other / Unknown

Narrative:

We were assigned heading 280; climb to 3000 feet. On takeoff roll; a loud air noise developed in the cockpit; making it difficult to hear any conversation or radio call. I attempted to press down on the left side window latch; and the noise got worse. We cleaned up the aircraft; and attempted to call departure. It was impossible to hear anything on the radio from the noise level. The altitude warning was not audible from the noise level. I reached over and pulled the window lock upwards to the open position. The noise suddenly stopped as the window latch seated into the air leak. I heard the first call from departure asking what our altitude was. We were climbing through 3500 feet. I immediately leveled off; and said we were descending back to 3000 feet. The controller cleared us to 14000 feet; asking us what our assigned altitude on departure was. I said it was 3000 feet; and we missed our level off because of a distraction in the cockpit.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Citation pilot reported an altitude deviation due to a loud window leak noise interfering with radio communication and altitude warnings.

Narrative: We were assigned heading 280; climb to 3000 feet. On takeoff roll; a loud air noise developed in the cockpit; making it difficult to hear any conversation or radio call. I attempted to press down on the left side window latch; and the noise got worse. We cleaned up the aircraft; and attempted to call departure. It was impossible to hear anything on the radio from the noise level. The altitude warning was not audible from the noise level. I reached over and pulled the window lock upwards to the open position. The noise suddenly stopped as the window latch seated into the air leak. I heard the first call from departure asking what our altitude was. We were climbing through 3500 feet. I immediately leveled off; and said we were descending back to 3000 feet. The controller cleared us to 14000 feet; asking us what our assigned altitude on departure was. I said it was 3000 feet; and we missed our level off because of a distraction in the cockpit.

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.