<< >> NASA ASRS Report 878076, March 2010

While flying an aircraft on which neither pilot had significant flight time and altitude deviation occurred when the pilot flying failed to select the appropriate auto flight mode.

Attributes
ACN	878076
Time
Date	201003
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	IMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Beechjet 400
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Descent
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Altitude Hold/Capture
Person 1
Function	Pilot Not Flying First Officer
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Person 2
Function	Pilot Flying Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Altitude Overshoot Deviation - Procedural Clearance

Narrative:

The flight progressed through climbout and enroute and during decent/arrival procedures an altitude change was given to descend to 8000. The 'altitude select' may or may not have been selected because on the next leg we monitored 2 level offs where the autopilot 'did not' capture the altitude even though all the proper buttons where selected and the flight director switched to 'altitude hold'. I was personally involved with ATIS and arrival planning and didn't notice the deviation soon enough. The pilot flying took controls and required the assigned altitude. No comment was received from ATC. I believe the event was related to insufficient crew familiarity with this model beechjet. We are assigned to this type very infrequently and with high work load some minor slips are made that can turn into major problems. Both of us had not been in this type for some time or for only a short time. At least one of the crewmembers should be very current with this type and any deficiencies with the particular aircraft's equipment peculiarities should be corrected.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: While flying an aircraft on which neither pilot had significant flight time and altitude deviation occurred when the pilot flying failed to select the appropriate auto flight mode.

Narrative: The flight progressed through climbout and enroute and during decent/arrival procedures an altitude change was given to descend to 8000. The 'altitude select' may or may not have been selected because on the next leg we monitored 2 level offs where the autopilot 'did not' capture the altitude even though all the proper buttons where selected and the flight director switched to 'altitude hold'. I was personally involved with ATIS and arrival planning and didn't notice the deviation soon enough. The pilot flying took controls and required the assigned altitude. No comment was received from ATC. I believe the event was related to insufficient crew familiarity with this model Beechjet. We are assigned to this type very infrequently and with high work load some minor slips are made that can turn into major problems. Both of us had not been in this type for some time or for only a short time. At least one of the crewmembers should be very current with this type and any deficiencies with the particular aircraft's equipment peculiarities should be corrected.

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.