Narrative:

There were two things happening on this flight one resulting in the other. The first officer (first officer) was the flying pilot and a/P (autopilot) #2 was on. I had been talking to center and we had an initial climb clearance to 16000 ft on a heading of 360 degree. I was just going to submit the push delay code when the first officer called '15 for 16'. I confirmed and advised ATC that we are leveling at 16000 ft and requesting higher. There was no response on the first request; but after the second transmission we were told to contact [center] - it seemed that they forgot to switch us earlier. As I switched frequencies the airplane began its level off decreasing the climb-rate and the FMA (flight mode annunciator) showed speed altitude* but continued on right through the altitude at the same time as I just called [center] and [reported] leveling at 16000 ft; I then advised ATC that our autopilot had just climbed through 16000 ft during level off approximately 250 ft too high pitching slightly back down.ATC responded 'no problem at all and climb to FL410'. Simultaneously to my communication with ATC while the autopilot passed through 16000 ft and leveled off at approximately 16250ft and subsequently initiated a very shallow descent; the first officer took manual control to get back to the assigned altitude. He clicked off the autopilot and recalled that he pulled the altitude (which was still set to 16000 ft) and turned the AP2 back on. As soon as he started the descent back to 16000 ft; we got the climb clearance to FL410 and he entered FL410 and pulled open climb (as we were still on a heading). The airplane began to climb. I don't recall the FMA indication because my attention was drawn to the mcdu (multi-function control and display unit) showing an orange message asking for ldg destination data and showing negative fuel for landing. At first we didn't realize that airplane got into 'descent mode' and we did another leg verification which matched the flight plan. Then I noticed that we were in descent mode showing all waypoint altitudes at 12000 ft. We asked ATC for an intermediate level off and tried to force it back into cruise mode. We missed the part though; that a higher altitude than current does not populate onto the prog page when in descent mode and did not get back into cruise mode. We called maintenance to help us to get back into crz mode and troubleshoot together to no avail until [maintenance control] involved [the] A330 fleet manager who recognized what we missed in order to get the airplane back into climb mode and asked us to request another climb and enter the altitude in the prog page. This fixed the problem and we got out of des mode into climb and then crz mode. This is a clear example why it is so important to finish reading the FMA after changing a mode/speed/altitude without getting side tracked; which delayed the recognition of what the problem was. I also should have thought of that I needed to enter a new altitude into the prog page as well to get back into climb mode. We had thought of how to get out of G/a (go around) mode but didn't have any recollection how to get out of descent mode and because of getting close to ETOPS airspace I elected to involve [maintenance control] early to be sure we are legal when we enter ETOPS airspace.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A330 flight crew reported MCDU (Multi-Function Control & Display Unit) issues during initial climb prior to ETOPS airspace.

Narrative: There were two things happening on this flight one resulting in the other. The F/O (First Officer) was the flying pilot and A/P (Autopilot) #2 was on. I had been talking to Center and we had an initial climb clearance to 16000 ft on a heading of 360 degree. I was just going to submit the push delay code when the F/O called '15 for 16'. I confirmed and advised ATC that we are leveling at 16000 ft and requesting higher. There was no response on the first request; but after the second transmission we were told to contact [Center] - it seemed that they forgot to switch us earlier. As I switched frequencies the airplane began its level off decreasing the climb-rate and the FMA (Flight mode Annunciator) showed SPD ALT* but continued on right through the altitude at the same time as I just called [Center] and [reported] leveling at 16000 ft; I then advised ATC that our autopilot had just climbed through 16000 ft during Level off approximately 250 ft too high pitching slightly back down.ATC responded 'no problem at all and climb to FL410'. Simultaneously to my communication with ATC while the autopilot passed through 16000 ft and leveled off at approximately 16250ft and subsequently initiated a very shallow descent; the F/O took manual control to get back to the assigned altitude. He clicked off the autopilot and recalled that he pulled the altitude (which was still set to 16000 ft) and turned the AP2 back on. As soon as he started the descent back to 16000 ft; we got the climb clearance to FL410 and he entered FL410 and pulled open climb (as we were still on a heading). The airplane began to climb. I don't recall the FMA indication because my attention was drawn to the MCDU (Multi-function Control and Display Unit) showing an orange message asking for LDG DEST data and showing negative fuel for landing. At first we didn't realize that airplane got into 'descent mode' and we did another leg verification which matched the flight plan. Then I noticed that we were in descent mode showing all waypoint altitudes at 12000 ft. We asked ATC for an intermediate level off and tried to force it back into cruise mode. We missed the part though; that a higher altitude than current does not populate onto the PROG page when in descent mode and did not get back into cruise mode. We called maintenance to help us to get back into CRZ mode and troubleshoot together to no avail until [Maintenance Control] involved [the] A330 Fleet Manager who recognized what we missed in order to get the airplane back into CLB mode and asked us to request another climb and enter the altitude in the PROG page. This fixed the problem and we got out of DES mode into CLB and then CRZ mode. This is a clear example why it is so important to finish reading the FMA after changing a mode/speed/altitude without getting side tracked; which delayed the recognition of what the problem was. I also should have thought of that I needed to enter a new altitude into the PROG page as well to get back into climb mode. We had thought of how to get out of G/A (Go Around) mode but didn't have any recollection how to get out of DESCENT mode and because of getting close to ETOPS airspace I elected to involve [Maintenance Control] early to be sure we are legal when we enter ETOPS airspace.

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.