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LR60 crew overshot their assigned altitude when the autopilot failed to capture.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 954581 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201106 |
| Local Time Of Day | 1201-1800 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | ZID.ARTCC |
| State Reference | IN |
| Environment | |
| Flight Conditions | VMC |
| Light | Daylight |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | Learjet 60 |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 91 |
| Flight Phase | Climb |
| Route In Use | Direct |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Component | |
| Aircraft Component | Autopilot |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Pilot Flying Captain |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) |
| Experience | Flight Crew Last 90 Days 87 Flight Crew Total 6400 Flight Crew Type 2000 |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Deviation - Altitude Overshoot Deviation - Procedural Clearance |
Narrative:
I picked up an airplane after some maintenance on the flaps system. I took off with no passengers and did the initial climb and turned the autopilot on. I did the departure and climbed doing some steps. ATC cleared us to FL220. The copilot and I where talking about what they did in maintenance. The copilot called 1;000 feet to go. I confirmed it and checked that the altitude capture was armed. At that point we were climbing at a rate of 2;500 FPM. Then we heard someone on the radio asking for traffic and we realized that we were climbing through FL220. The copilot questioned what happened to the altitude capture. A that moment I disconnected the autopilot and got aggressive to go back down to FL220. ATC called us and questioned our altitude. At that moment we were leveling back at FL220. The autopilot was in arm. I don't know if the altitude capture got disconnected or if there was a malfunction in the autopilot. But if I disconnected it; we never heard the disconnect tone or bell. I have learned a valuable lesson. Regardless of whether the autopilot was armed or not; I should have been monitoring the plane more closely until it was in level flight and then got back to our conversation.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: LR60 crew overshot their assigned altitude when the autopilot failed to capture.
Narrative: I picked up an airplane after some maintenance on the flaps system. I took off with no passengers and did the initial climb and turned the autopilot on. I did the departure and climbed doing some steps. ATC cleared us to FL220. The copilot and I where talking about what they did in maintenance. The copilot called 1;000 feet to go. I confirmed it and checked that the ALTITUDE CAPTURE was armed. At that point we were climbing at a rate of 2;500 FPM. Then we heard someone on the radio asking for traffic and we realized that we were climbing through FL220. The copilot questioned what happened to the ALTITUDE CAPTURE. A that moment I disconnected the autopilot and got aggressive to go back down to FL220. ATC called us and questioned our altitude. At that moment we were leveling back at FL220. The autopilot was in ARM. I don't know if the ALTITUDE CAPTURE got disconnected or if there was a malfunction in the autopilot. But if I disconnected it; we never heard the disconnect tone or bell. I have learned a valuable lesson. Regardless of whether the autopilot was armed or not; I should have been monitoring the plane more closely until it was in level flight and then got back to our conversation.
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.