Narrative:

This was a sales demonstration flight to take place from teterboro airport (teb). There was a two pilot crew; although for the demo flight there would be just myself and the customer in the cockpit. Weather was IFR in rain. Delays were expected out of the airport. Aircraft was equipped with pro line 21 avionics. The salesperson and customer called and requested we change the FBO and departure time (earlier) of the demo. We had come in the night before and were parked at a different FBO. First officer and I were hurrying to complete all the pre flight and pre demo items in order to reposition on the airport for the customer pick up. We were hurrying because the FBO we were parked at encountered a delay pulling out and fueling our aircraft. I picked up the weather and clearance at the original FBO while my first officer paid for fuel. We repositioned to the other location on the field. Customer was a rated commercial instrument pilot based at teb. Upon start up; we briefed the assigned departure procedure (ruudy 2 RNAV) to be flown off of runway 24. I also spent some extra time on the ramp familiarizing the customer with the aircraft and its avionics. I was in the left seat acting as pilot flying while the customer would be observing the flight. There were 4 passengers on board incidental to the demo. Following the familiarization time on the ramp; we received taxi clearance to the hold pad between runway 18 and runway 24. We estimated a roughly 35 minute delay prior to departure. We then continued the demo familiarization of the aircraft cockpit while we waited for departure. After the roughly 35 minutes; we were given our takeoff clearance. I again reviewed the takeoff briefing to include noise abatement with the customer but not the departure procedure. On the runway I engaged heading mode; armed the navigation mode to follow the departure procedure; updated the FMS departure runway; confirmed altitude set at the cleared 2000 ft; and 'thought' I armed VNAV. In this case; I didn't push the button hard enough and it wasn't armed. Autopilot was armed at 500 ft AGL following engine cutback and flap retraction for noise. The airplane began its turn to the wentz intersection on the ruudy 2 departure properly. With altitude preselect set at 2000 ft; and VNAV not armed; the aircraft did not capture the required 1500 ft until crossing wentz intersection. Instead; we continued climb to 2000 ft. The aircraft was initiating its level off at 2000 ft at roughly the wentz intersection. At this point I saw that the VNAV altitude was still indicating 1500 ft although I was now at 2000 ft. This is when I noticed VNAV was not armed. At this point I reviewed the departure and saw that I was not to be above 1500 ft until crossing wentz. As I was at the time over the intersection; I remained at 2000 ft as opposed to trying to descend back down to 1500 ft only to then climb right back up to 2000 ft. ATC asked me to 'say altitude' and I replied '2000 ft.' ATC then informed me that I was 500 ft too high for the departure. There were no traffic conflicts due to this altitude excursion. I attribute this mistake to the following items: not confirming that the desired flight guidance panel mode actually armed after pushing the button; not re-briefing the departure procedure prior to takeoff as it had been over an hour since original IFR clearance had been received and I had not been familiar enough with the departure procedure at that time to recognize the altitude discrepancy in time to correct the problem at the moment it occurred; I was distracted slightly while trying to provide explanations during the flight; I had been originally hurried slightly and did not devote the usual time to review the departure procedure while on the ground.

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Premier 1 pilot departing on the TEB RUUDY2 correctly set the FMS and Flight Guidance Panel parameters prior to takeoff. After takeoff; the VNAV button was not pressed hard enough to activate VNAV and so the aircraft did not level to cross WENTZ at 1;500 FT.

Narrative: This was a sales demonstration flight to take place from Teterboro airport (TEB). There was a two pilot crew; although for the demo flight there would be just myself and the customer in the cockpit. Weather was IFR in rain. Delays were expected out of the airport. Aircraft was equipped with Pro Line 21 avionics. The salesperson and customer called and requested we change the FBO and departure time (earlier) of the demo. We had come in the night before and were parked at a different FBO. First Officer and I were hurrying to complete all the pre flight and pre demo items in order to reposition on the airport for the customer pick up. We were hurrying because the FBO we were parked at encountered a delay pulling out and fueling our aircraft. I picked up the weather and clearance at the original FBO while my First Officer paid for fuel. We repositioned to the other location on the field. Customer was a rated commercial instrument pilot based at TEB. Upon start up; we briefed the assigned departure procedure (RUUDY 2 RNAV) to be flown off of Runway 24. I also spent some extra time on the ramp familiarizing the customer with the aircraft and its avionics. I was in the left seat acting as pilot flying while the customer would be observing the flight. There were 4 passengers on board incidental to the demo. Following the familiarization time on the ramp; we received taxi clearance to the hold pad between Runway 18 and Runway 24. We estimated a roughly 35 minute delay prior to departure. We then continued the demo familiarization of the aircraft cockpit while we waited for departure. After the roughly 35 minutes; we were given our takeoff clearance. I again reviewed the takeoff briefing to include noise abatement with the customer but not the departure procedure. On the runway I engaged heading mode; armed the NAV mode to follow the departure procedure; updated the FMS departure runway; confirmed altitude set at the cleared 2000 FT; and 'thought' I armed VNAV. In this case; I didn't push the button hard enough and it wasn't armed. Autopilot was armed at 500 FT AGL following engine cutback and flap retraction for noise. The airplane began its turn to the WENTZ Intersection on the RUUDY 2 Departure properly. With altitude preselect set at 2000 FT; and VNAV not armed; the aircraft did not capture the required 1500 FT until crossing WENTZ Intersection. Instead; we continued climb to 2000 FT. The aircraft was initiating its level off at 2000 FT at roughly the WENTZ Intersection. At this point I saw that the VNAV altitude was still indicating 1500 FT although I was now at 2000 FT. This is when I noticed VNAV was not armed. At this point I reviewed the departure and saw that I was not to be above 1500 FT until crossing WENTZ. As I was at the time over the intersection; I remained at 2000 FT as opposed to trying to descend back down to 1500 FT only to then climb right back up to 2000 FT. ATC asked me to 'Say altitude' and I replied '2000 FT.' ATC then informed me that I was 500 FT too high for the departure. There were no traffic conflicts due to this altitude excursion. I attribute this mistake to the following items: Not confirming that the desired Flight Guidance Panel mode actually armed after pushing the button; not re-briefing the departure procedure prior to takeoff as it had been over an hour since original IFR clearance had been received and I had not been familiar enough with the departure procedure at that time to recognize the altitude discrepancy in time to correct the problem at the moment it occurred; I was distracted slightly while trying to provide explanations during the flight; I had been originally hurried slightly and did not devote the usual time to review the departure procedure while on the ground.

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.