A B757 captain reported setting the altimeter to 28.92 hg because of a habit pattern to only check a...

Narrative:

I set the altimeter to 28.92 instead of setting it to 29.92. The departure altimeter setting was 29.31. ATC had cleared us to FL230 and most of the climb through 17;000 had been in moderate turbulence. At about FL220; I asked the first officer to let the flight attendants up. At the same time he reported an ELT to ATC. After talking with the flight attendants; he questioned me about the difference between my altimeters and his. We quickly discovered that I had set mine to 28.92 instead of 29.92. In general when passing 18;000 I say '92' and check for 92 on the altimeters. But I only checked the last two digits. To prevent this I will call 29.92 and check all 4 numbers. ATC cleared to us our cruise altitude at the time we discovered the error and did not question us about our altitude.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B757 Captain reported setting the altimeter to 28.92 HG because of a habit pattern to only check and verify the last two digits of the altimeter setting above 18;000'.

Narrative: I set the altimeter to 28.92 instead of setting it to 29.92. The departure altimeter setting was 29.31. ATC had cleared us to FL230 and most of the climb through 17;000 had been in moderate turbulence. At about FL220; I asked the First Officer to let the flight attendants up. At the same time he reported an ELT to ATC. After talking with the flight attendants; he questioned me about the difference between my altimeters and his. We quickly discovered that I had set mine to 28.92 instead of 29.92. In general when passing 18;000 I say '92' and check for 92 on the altimeters. But I only checked the last two digits. To prevent this I will call 29.92 and check all 4 numbers. ATC cleared to us our cruise altitude at the time we discovered the error and did not question us about our altitude.

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	864065
Time
Date	200912
Local Time Of Day	0001-0600
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B757-200
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Climb
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Altimeter
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 240 Flight Crew Total 18000 Flight Crew Type 8500
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Altitude Overshoot Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

A B757 captain reported setting the altimeter to 28.92 hg because of a habit pattern to only check and verify the last two digits of the altimeter setting above 18;000'.