Narrative:

Preparing to depart teb for a VFR flight back to ZZZ. I first got a weather briefing; then went out and pre-flighted my plane. Next I listened to ATIS; then contacted clearance delivery; as directed. I announced myself as ready to taxi VFR bound for ZZZ and requested flight following. Delivery proceeded to give me a squawk code; then asked for my on-course heading. I told him 270 degrees -- and that was the full extent of what he told me. I proceeded to read back what he'd said and he okayed it. I clearly remember at the time while I was dialing in ground control's frequency; being mystified that I'd not been asked for an altitude nor given one. In retrospect I wish that I'd called clearance back; but I failed to do so. Perhaps it had to do with a certain sense of intimidation (imagined or not); stemming from the fact that I was not piloting a gulfstream or a citation. In any event; I reasoned that I would most certainly be given an initial altitude by the tower. After completing my run-up; I contacted tower; and was told to taxi into 'position and hold' on runway 24. I did as I was told; and after traffic had landed on another runway; I was cleared for take-off and told to fly runway heading. As I proceeded to takeoff; I was again uneasy with the fact that I'd not been given a departure altitude. I knew 1500 ft was the 'at or below altitude' regarding the class B airspace; but I also knew that it wasn't written in stone in the sense that a few days earlier upon flying in to land at teb; my VOR failed to pick up teb and I requested a vector from new york approach (it was night and the field was difficult to locate amidst all the surrounding city lights). New york cleared me down to 2500 ft until I was practically over the airfield with it well in sight. To the best of my recollection; during take-off as I was nearing 1500 ft; the tower advised me to turn to my on-course heading of 270 degrees. As I did so tower came on again; notifying me that I was not squawking the proper code. I glanced at my transponder; then the number I'd written down. I told him it was the proper code. He told me it wasn't; and that I needed to put in the code I'd been assigned. It was the first digit that was in error; and I fiddled with it; suggesting to him there must be something wrong with the transponder. He seemed not to understand me; and again ordered me to put in the appropriate number. There was exasperation in his voice; almost as if this were a crisis situation and I needed to fix it on the spot. I responded accordingly; first positioning other numbers in the first digit window -- all of which were wrong; of course -- but hoping for some sort of miracle. It didn't happen; and finally I went back to just jiggling the appropriate number '0' over and over again. It was at this point; the tower came back on again; informing me in a very excited voice that I'd entered bravo airspace; was several hundred feet above the 1800 foot limit; and to descend immediately. Which I did. I felt totally humiliated and chagrined. Obviously I'd become so absorbed with the balky transponder; that I'd apparently not leveled off sufficiently; and that my plane had still continued to climb. Looking back now; I certainly feel I was led into a 'gotcha' moment by teb. I don't mean to suggest it was anything other than inadvertent; but the results were the same. What is most troubling to me; is that an airport such as teb; situated so close to so many major airports and arguably in the most congested airspace on the planet; would so lightly regard something as critical as departure altitude and not even mention it in clearance delivery. It doesn't make sense to me. It seems there should be no room for assumptions in this kind of environment. Both on their part and mine. I am certain that if they'd given me a target departure altitude; I would have focused on it with far greater intensity than I did; left to my own wiles -- even with the distractions of a balky transponder. One of the reasons I almost always request flight following when I'm flying VFR; is to have another pair of eyes watching over you. It is a tremendous service offered to general aviation. When I took off I must admit that in the back of my mind I felt the tower was in essence the first leg of my flight following and would be monitoring my departure and promptly notifying me if something was amiss. Such was not the case; nor should I have relied on such thinking. In summary I feel strongly that greater safety will be achieved at an airport possessing teb's congested location if departure altitude is included as an essential and critical component of clearance delivery. I would like to add here that I am reasonably experienced with flying into congested airspace.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: C182 pilot departing TEB VFR was unaware of published VFR departure procedures but was aware of Class B floor at 1800 FT. On departure; distraction of transponder malfunction causes reporter to climb into Class B.

Narrative: Preparing to depart TEB for a VFR flight back to ZZZ. I first got a weather briefing; then went out and pre-flighted my plane. Next I listened to ATIS; then contacted Clearance Delivery; as directed. I announced myself as ready to taxi VFR bound for ZZZ and requested flight following. Delivery proceeded to give me a squawk code; then asked for my on-course heading. I told him 270 degrees -- and that was the full extent of what he told me. I proceeded to read back what he'd said and he okayed it. I clearly remember at the time while I was dialing in Ground Control's frequency; being mystified that I'd not been asked for an altitude nor given one. In retrospect I wish that I'd called Clearance back; but I failed to do so. Perhaps it had to do with a certain sense of intimidation (imagined or not); stemming from the fact that I was not piloting a Gulfstream or a Citation. In any event; I reasoned that I would most certainly be given an initial altitude by the Tower. After completing my run-up; I contacted Tower; and was told to taxi into 'position and hold' on Runway 24. I did as I was told; and after traffic had landed on another runway; I was cleared for take-off and told to fly runway heading. As I proceeded to takeoff; I was again uneasy with the fact that I'd not been given a departure altitude. I knew 1500 FT was the 'at or below altitude' regarding the Class B airspace; but I also knew that it wasn't written in stone in the sense that a few days earlier upon flying in to land at TEB; my VOR failed to pick up TEB and I requested a vector from New York Approach (it was night and the field was difficult to locate amidst all the surrounding city lights). New York cleared me down to 2500 FT until I was practically over the airfield with it well in sight. To the best of my recollection; during take-off as I was nearing 1500 FT; the Tower advised me to turn to my on-course heading of 270 degrees. As I did so Tower came on again; notifying me that I was not squawking the proper code. I glanced at my transponder; then the number I'd written down. I told him it was the proper code. He told me it wasn't; and that I needed to put in the code I'd been assigned. It was the first digit that was in error; and I fiddled with it; suggesting to him there must be something wrong with the transponder. He seemed not to understand me; and again ordered me to put in the appropriate number. There was exasperation in his voice; almost as if this were a crisis situation and I needed to fix it on the spot. I responded accordingly; first positioning other numbers in the first digit window -- all of which were wrong; of course -- but hoping for some sort of miracle. It didn't happen; and finally I went back to just jiggling the appropriate number '0' over and over again. It was at this point; the Tower came back on again; informing me in a very excited voice that I'd entered Bravo airspace; was several hundred feet above the 1800 foot limit; and to descend immediately. Which I did. I felt totally humiliated and chagrined. Obviously I'd become so absorbed with the balky transponder; that I'd apparently not leveled off sufficiently; and that my plane had still continued to climb. Looking back now; I certainly feel I was led into a 'gotcha' moment by TEB. I don't mean to suggest it was anything other than inadvertent; but the results were the same. What is most troubling to me; is that an airport such as TEB; situated so close to so many major airports and arguably in the most congested airspace on the planet; would so lightly regard something as critical as departure altitude and not even mention it in Clearance Delivery. It doesn't make sense to me. It seems there should be no room for assumptions in this kind of environment. Both on their part and mine. I am certain that if they'd given me a target departure altitude; I would have focused on it with far greater intensity than I did; left to my own wiles -- even with the distractions of a balky transponder. One of the reasons I almost always request flight following when I'm flying VFR; is to have another pair of eyes watching over you. It is a tremendous service offered to general aviation. When I took off I must admit that in the back of my mind I felt the Tower was in essence the first leg of my flight following and would be monitoring my departure and promptly notifying me if something was amiss. Such was not the case; nor should I have relied on such thinking. In summary I feel strongly that greater safety will be achieved at an airport possessing TEB's congested location if departure altitude is included as an essential and critical component of clearance delivery. I would like to add here that I am reasonably experienced with flying into congested airspace.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.