A corporate pilot on a night VFR flight near jfk climbed into class B airspace after misunderstandin...

Narrative:

I was westbound off the south shore about to come from under the 500 ft shelf of the jfk class bravo. I received a transmission from jfk tower 'aircraft if you want to; you can start a climb; turn direct sandy point and I'll provide flight following to sandy point.' this was a relief as I had been trying to obtain a transition through the class B earlier and was told I would have had to clear the departure path of jfk's runway 22; the runway in use; and I was interested in obtaining more altitude to cross the lower bay as well and gain perspective for better navigation. I read back the 'if you want to climb' clearance and inflected a request clarification of a clearance into the class bravo while turning south and initiating a climb back to my desired enroute altitude of 2500 ft MSL. Other communications directed to the tower took place directly after my implied query so while I was waiting I attempted to identify sandy hook; which I thought I was familiar with as a NAVAID. While coming to the realization that it was a VFR reporting point; not the sandy point VOR some periods of radio silence lapsed and the controller didn't reply to me and I hadn't leveled off or clarified the clearance. As I was passing through 2300 ft MSL feet the controller inquired as to my altitude and it was determined that he had intended for the climb to end at 1400 ft MSL. I clarified that it was indeed 1400 ft that he wanted and initiated a descent. Shortly after that transmission flight following was terminated by the controller. Factors contributing to the event: pilot made assumption based on controller's issuance of a non-descript clearance and wishful thinking. Neglect to clarify clearance. Pilot workload was unnecessarily high; and performance low as a result of selection of routing proximity of obstacles (terrain; traffic; and airspace) making for narrow margins in navigation; night conditions; flight toward an unfamiliar area; and fatigue.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Corporate Pilot on a night VFR flight near JFK climbed into Class B airspace after misunderstanding the JFK Local Controller's climb clearance instructions.

Narrative: I was westbound off the south shore about to come from under the 500 FT shelf of the JFK Class Bravo. I received a transmission from JFK Tower 'Aircraft if you want to; you can start a climb; turn direct Sandy Point and I'll provide flight following to Sandy Point.' This was a relief as I had been trying to obtain a transition through the Class B earlier and was told I would have had to clear the departure path of JFK's Runway 22; the runway in use; and I was interested in obtaining more altitude to cross the Lower Bay as well and gain perspective for better navigation. I read back the 'If you want to climb' clearance and inflected a request clarification of a clearance into the Class Bravo while turning south and initiating a climb back to my desired enroute altitude of 2500 FT MSL. Other communications directed to the Tower took place directly after my implied query so while I was waiting I attempted to identify Sandy Hook; which I thought I was familiar with as a NAVAID. While coming to the realization that it was a VFR reporting point; not the Sandy Point VOR some periods of radio silence lapsed and the Controller didn't reply to me and I hadn't leveled off or clarified the clearance. As I was passing through 2300 FT MSL feet the Controller inquired as to my altitude and it was determined that he had intended for the climb to end at 1400 FT MSL. I clarified that it was indeed 1400 FT that he wanted and initiated a descent. Shortly after that transmission flight following was terminated by the Controller. Factors contributing to the event: Pilot made assumption based on Controller's issuance of a non-descript clearance and wishful thinking. Neglect to clarify clearance. Pilot workload was unnecessarily high; and performance low as a result of selection of routing proximity of obstacles (terrain; traffic; and airspace) making for narrow margins in navigation; night conditions; flight toward an unfamiliar area; and fatigue.

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.

Attributes
ACN	850848
Time
Date	200908
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	JFK.Airport
State Reference	NY
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Small Aircraft High Wing 1 Eng Fixed Gear
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Climb Cruise
Route In Use	Vectors
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Commercial
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 90 Flight Crew Total 1650 Flight Crew Type 22
Events
Anomaly	Airspace Violation All Types Deviation - Altitude Overshoot Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Deviation - Procedural Clearance

A corporate pilot on a night VFR flight near jfk climbed into class B airspace after misunderstanding the jfk local controller's climb clearance instructions.