Narrative:

Incident took place on the ruudy two RNAV departure from teb. I was flying single pilot. Prior to doing the ruudy two departure procedure; I reviewed it extensively; both prior to departure; and again in the run-up block just to have it extra fresh in my head. Although I have been into teterboro extensively in the past; I had not been there recently. My ATC clearance was from teb via the ruudy two; climb and maintain 6;000; rest as filed. Mentally; I made the mistake that the 6;000 ft altitude that ATC cleared me to on departure from teb overrode the 1;500 ft altitude to be maintained at wentz intersection on the departure procedure. The climbout was in VMC. As I climbed through 1;700 ft (stopping at 1;800 ft; then descending slightly); ATC took note of this and said just to not do it again. At my end; when I was reading the departure procedure prior to the flight; I remember seeing wentz intersection and being curious about whether the 1;500 ft overrode whatever ATC clears you to. Tasca intersection (the next fix) has a clearly marked box that says '2;000 ft or as assigned by ATC' whereas wentz has a small box that denotes 1;500 ft. I wish I had queried ATC on that. Alternatively; I wish wentz was marked in stronger language on the chart (similar to tasca); so that the ambiguity I operated in would not exist. I was fortunate that this incident happened in on a VFR day and there was no loss of traffic separation. However the potential clearly exists. I will be extra vigilant to question ATC on issues that I am not clear on during departure procedures.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: BE90 pilot exceeds 1;500 FT prior to crossing WENTZ on the RUUDY 2 departure from TEB due to confusion.

Narrative: Incident took place on the RUUDY TWO RNAV departure from TEB. I was flying single pilot. Prior to doing the RUUDY TWO departure procedure; I reviewed it extensively; both prior to departure; and again in the run-up block just to have it extra fresh in my head. Although I have been into Teterboro extensively in the past; I had not been there recently. My ATC clearance was from TEB via the RUUDY TWO; climb and maintain 6;000; rest as filed. Mentally; I made the mistake that the 6;000 FT altitude that ATC cleared me to on departure from TEB overrode the 1;500 FT altitude to be maintained at WENTZ Intersection on the departure procedure. The climbout was in VMC. As I climbed through 1;700 FT (stopping at 1;800 FT; then descending slightly); ATC took note of this and said just to not do it again. At my end; when I was reading the departure procedure prior to the flight; I remember seeing WENTZ Intersection and being curious about whether the 1;500 FT overrode whatever ATC clears you to. TASCA Intersection (the next fix) has a clearly marked box that says '2;000 FT or as assigned by ATC' whereas WENTZ has a small box that denotes 1;500 FT. I wish I had queried ATC on that. Alternatively; I wish WENTZ was marked in stronger language on the chart (similar to TASCA); so that the ambiguity I operated in would not exist. I was fortunate that this incident happened in on a VFR day and there was no loss of traffic separation. However the potential clearly exists. I will be extra vigilant to question ATC on issues that I am not clear on during departure procedures.

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.