Narrative:

Shortly after takeoff on runway heading; the tower told us to turn right to 300 and advise him when we rolled out on that heading because there was traffic in front of us doing the same thing. In the middle of the turn the captain called for flaps 8 and I raised the flaps as the pilot monitoring. When I selected flaps 8 both the 'slats halfspeed' and 'flaps halfspeed' status messages came on. (We expected this because there were numerous write-ups on this plane for slat/flap issues. The first officer that brought our plane in also had said that those 2 status messages continued to flash on and off throughout his flight.) the captain called for flaps up and climb thrust so I raised the flaps. Right around this time the 'ap pitch trim' caution message illuminated. A few seconds later the 'ap trim is nd' illuminated. We were climbing through 4000-5000 ft at this time on our way up to 7000. I was busy with communicating to ATC about our turn. He told us we didn't need to call him on the 300 heading and to switch to departure. I couldn't get a word in because someone else decided to answer our call. On departure I called and said we were on our way up to 7000 ft and they called with traffic passing from left to right at 8000 ft expect higher in a few minutes. Meanwhile I pulled the book out so I could be ready with the checklist right away. Around 6000 ft the FMA showed altitudes cap. Around 6500 ft we both noticed that the plane showed no signs that it was going to capture (climb rate never slowed) 7000 ft. The captain clicked the autopilot off at 7000 ft and pushed on the yoke to stop our climb. The plane didn't respond to the first push so he pushed harder and by 7400 ft stopped our climb and brought it back to 7000 ft. There were a couple buffets while he was fighting the plane to get it back down. He told me to advise ATC that we had an autopilot malfunction and we were getting back to 7000 ft as quick as possible. All caution and status messages associated with the ap went out when the captain clicked off the autopilot. There was traffic crossing from our left to right at 8000 ft. When I advised ATC their only response was 'ok; maintain 7000'. They never asked us any questions about our altitude deviation or said anything after I told them of our issue. A few minutes later we were handed off to another frequency and continued the flight without incident.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A CRJ900 flight crew had to deal with flap and slat problems as well as autopilot issues on their initial climb; leading to an altitude deviation.

Narrative: Shortly after takeoff on runway heading; the tower told us to turn right to 300 and advise him when we rolled out on that heading because there was traffic in front of us doing the same thing. In the middle of the turn the Captain called for Flaps 8 and I raised the flaps as the pilot monitoring. When I selected Flaps 8 both the 'SLATS HALFSPEED' and 'FLAPS HALFSPEED' status messages came on. (We expected this because there were numerous write-ups on this plane for slat/flap issues. The First Officer that brought our plane in also had said that those 2 status messages continued to flash on and off throughout his flight.) The Captain called for flaps up and climb thrust so I raised the flaps. Right around this time the 'AP PITCH TRIM' caution message illuminated. A few seconds later the 'AP TRIM IS ND' illuminated. We were climbing through 4000-5000 FT at this time on our way up to 7000. I was busy with communicating to ATC about our turn. He told us we didn't need to call him on the 300 heading and to switch to departure. I couldn't get a word in because someone else decided to answer our call. On departure I called and said we were on our way up to 7000 FT and they called with traffic passing from left to right at 8000 FT expect higher in a few minutes. Meanwhile I pulled the book out so I could be ready with the checklist right away. Around 6000 FT the FMA showed ALTS CAP. Around 6500 FT we both noticed that the plane showed no signs that it was going to capture (climb rate never slowed) 7000 FT. The captain clicked the autopilot off at 7000 FT and pushed on the yoke to stop our climb. The plane didn't respond to the first push so he pushed harder and by 7400 FT stopped our climb and brought it back to 7000 FT. There were a couple buffets while he was fighting the plane to get it back down. He told me to advise ATC that we had an autopilot malfunction and we were getting back to 7000 FT as quick as possible. All caution and status messages associated with the AP went out when the captain clicked off the autopilot. There was traffic crossing from our left to right at 8000 FT. When I advised ATC their only response was 'ok; maintain 7000'. They never asked us any questions about our altitude deviation or said anything after I told them of our issue. A few minutes later we were handed off to another frequency and continued the flight without incident.

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.