Narrative:

I and my trainee had just assumed the position not long before this event. Right away we had to deal with a situation in which an aircraft departing ZZZ took off but the d-side departed the wrong flight plan. So after working through that situation my frustration level was already heightened. Complicating this matter was that I dislike training this individual developmental as he is 'high demand'. Honestly I don't think he is going to make it to cpc; but he still has hours left and I have to watch this guy as his secondary trainer. So; I already had a chip on my shoulder towards this guy. This aircraft departed and started calling us for his clearance. The radio reception was not the greatest. My trainee was slow to get things going. Once he did; he issued the clearance. The filed flight plan was for XXX1..XXX2..his final destination. When the pilot initially called us; he asked for his clearance to his final destination. My trainee did not catch this so I let it go to see if he would or to see how he would handle things when he issued the clearance and the pilot questioned him on it. My trainee cleared him to his final destination via XXX2 direct and to descend and maintain 6;000; the altitude required for traversing neighboring approach airspace which is about 30 miles west of XXX1 and on this aircraft's route of flight. The pilot never read back that he was descending to 6;000 ft but did state he was climbing to 8;000. My trainee and I both missed that and I immediately overrode my trainee to reissue the correct route to the pilot and also to advise the pilot that whoever filed the flight plan filed it wrong. We then told the pilot to contact the neighboring approach. The neighboring approach called us next to ask for control because the pilot was climbing; not descending to 6;000 ft; we had coordinated with the neighboring approach that he would be descending to 6;000. The pilot had filed for 8;000 ft. This was when I believed the pilot had committed a pilot deviation and I informed management to file a pilot deviation. When management listened to the tapes they discovered that we missed the pilot stating that he was climbing to 8;000 ft. I was alerted to the event. I need to work on paying more attention to read back/hear backs when working with a trainee; especially a trainee who needs more attention. This is a classic case of getting distracted and frustrated and not hearing what the pilots were actually saying to us.

Related reports:

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Enroute Controller providing OJT described a confused altitude assignment event when failing to hear an incorrect clearance read back resulting in a climb rather than the expected descent.

Narrative: I and my trainee had just assumed the position not long before this event. Right away we had to deal with a situation in which an aircraft departing ZZZ took off but the D-Side departed the wrong flight plan. So after working through that situation my frustration level was already heightened. Complicating this matter was that I dislike training this individual developmental as he is 'high demand'. Honestly I don't think he is going to make it to CPC; but he still has hours left and I have to watch this guy as his secondary trainer. So; I already had a chip on my shoulder towards this guy. This aircraft departed and started calling us for his clearance. The radio reception was not the greatest. My trainee was slow to get things going. Once he did; he issued the clearance. The filed flight plan was for XXX1..XXX2..his final destination. When the pilot initially called us; he asked for his clearance to his final destination. My trainee did not catch this so I let it go to see if he would or to see how he would handle things when he issued the clearance and the pilot questioned him on it. My trainee cleared him to his final destination via XXX2 direct and to descend and maintain 6;000; the altitude required for traversing neighboring Approach airspace which is about 30 miles west of XXX1 and on this aircraft's route of flight. The pilot never read back that he was descending to 6;000 FT but did state he was climbing to 8;000. My trainee and I both missed that and I immediately overrode my trainee to reissue the correct route to the pilot and also to advise the pilot that whoever filed the flight plan filed it wrong. We then told the pilot to contact the neighboring Approach. The neighboring Approach called us next to ask for control because the pilot was climbing; not descending to 6;000 FT; we had coordinated with the neighboring Approach that he would be descending to 6;000. The pilot had filed for 8;000 FT. This was when I believed the pilot had committed a pilot deviation and I informed management to file a pilot deviation. When management listened to the tapes they discovered that we missed the pilot stating that he was climbing to 8;000 FT. I was alerted to the event. I need to work on paying more attention to read back/hear backs when working with a trainee; especially a trainee who needs more attention. This is a classic case of getting distracted and frustrated and not hearing what the pilots were actually saying to us.

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.