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Uav flight crew reported that their misunderstanding of a clearance resulted in an altitude deviation.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1731959 |
| Time | |
| Date | 202002 |
| Local Time Of Day | 0601-1200 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | E10.TRACON |
| State Reference | CA |
| Environment | |
| Flight Conditions | VMC |
| Light | Daylight |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | UAV - Unpiloted Aerial Vehicle |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Other Military |
| Flight Phase | Climb |
| Route In Use | Other filed route |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Pilot Not Flying |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) |
| Experience | Flight Crew Last 90 Days 30 Flight Crew Total 5200 Flight Crew Type 200 |
| Person 2 | |
| Function | Pilot Flying Relief Pilot |
| Experience | Flight Crew Last 90 Days 40 Flight Crew Total 18000 Flight Crew Type 60 |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Airspace Violation All Types Deviation - Altitude Excursion From Assigned Altitude Deviation - Procedural Clearance |
Narrative:
We were enroute to the restricted area 12;000 ft. We received a clearance of 'cleared all altitudes ...'. We were almost to restricted area and the pilot flying thought it was an immediately effective clearance and commanded a climb toward our desired altitude. I was running the after-takeoff checklist and was in another shelter (not co-located). The pilot flying did not inform me that he had commanded a change to our altitude as is the procedure so that the other shelter knows what commands are being sent. Approach called and announced our off-altitude condition and I immediately realized what had happened. The pilot flying immediately commanded a descent back to the correct altitude.approach passed a number to call and as the 'mission commander' I called. I apologized to the person who identified himself as the 'lead controller' and explained that the pilot flying had not understood the clearance as his experience led him to believe that a future clearance would have had 'upon entering' 'when established in' 'after passing' or something identifying exactly when it became effective. We are both very sorry for the event and have reviewed our procedures both privately and with all of our fellow pilots at our weekly pilot meeting. We have also reviewed the requirement for the pilot flying to announce changes to aircraft configuration so that the shelter not flying has the situational awareness needed to know that the aircraft profile has been changed.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: UAV flight crew reported that their misunderstanding of a clearance resulted in an altitude deviation.
Narrative: We were enroute to the Restricted Area 12;000 ft. We received a clearance of 'cleared all altitudes ...'. We were almost to Restricted Area and the pilot flying thought it was an immediately effective clearance and commanded a climb toward our desired altitude. I was running the after-takeoff checklist and was in another shelter (not co-located). The pilot flying did not inform me that he had commanded a change to our altitude as is the procedure so that the other shelter knows what commands are being sent. Approach called and announced our off-altitude condition and I immediately realized what had happened. The pilot flying immediately commanded a descent back to the correct altitude.Approach passed a number to call and as the 'Mission Commander' I called. I apologized to the person who identified himself as the 'lead controller' and explained that the pilot flying had not understood the clearance as his experience led him to believe that a future clearance would have had 'upon entering' 'when established in' 'after passing' or something identifying exactly when it became effective. We are both very sorry for the event and have reviewed our procedures both privately and with ALL of our fellow pilots at our weekly pilot meeting. We have also reviewed the requirement for the pilot flying to announce changes to aircraft configuration so that the shelter not flying has the situational awareness needed to know that the aircraft profile has been changed.
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.