Air carrier departure from las described confusion regarding the shead 7 SID; the crossing altitudes...

Narrative:

We were assigned shead 7 departure SID out of las. My first officer and I reviewed and noted the notams for the shead 7 departure. NOTAM no 1/242: shead 7 departure; cross mddog at 9000'; ATC/at or above 9000';. Cross tarrk at 11000'; ATC/at or above 11000';. Our pre departure clearance cleared us to FL190 with SID restrictions. When I checked in with las departure; I heard the controller assigning unrestricted climb to previous traffic. Climbing through 5000';; I asked the departure controller about the NOTAM altitudes and which set applied to us regarding ATC vs. At or above altitudes. He replied with yes; comply with the NOTAM at or above altitudes and then stated climb unrestricted through 11000';. I read that back and understood that we were to climb unrestricted to 11000'; and then continue to climb to FL190 while complying with the rest of the restrictions. My first officer had the same understanding and he was the pilot flying. Controller never said 'climb and maintain 11000''. ATC gave us a traffic alert at 12000' and instructed us to maintain 12000'. ATC notified us of a B737. We had said traffic in sight. There was not any TCAS conflict. We were given a phone number and advised by the controller to call it upon landing; for a possible deviation. I contacted the TRACON supervisor upon arrival. After hearing my explanation; he agreed to investigate further as well as listen to the tapes. He called me back to inform me that he concurred with our explanation. He acknowledged that the controller did not use standard phraseology. He also said that altitude busts unfortunately happen quite often in las vegas due to the complex altitude restrictions. I agree with that assessment. I think the communication issues coupled with multiple complex crossing restrictions are causing deviations and confusion. Standard; clear; and timely communication between the controller and pilot is crucial.in this case; my question about the NOTAM to the controller aggravated the problem. Next time; I will try to clarify the questionable notams on the ground to avoid confusion. I will also query the controllers about incomplete and suspect clearances.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air Carrier departure from LAS described confusion regarding the Shead 7 SID; the crossing altitudes ATC vs. conventional; the NOTAM instructions and ATC's phraseology.

Narrative: We were assigned Shead 7 departure SID out of LAS. My First Officer and I reviewed and noted the NOTAMs for the Shead 7 departure. NOTAM No 1/242: Shead 7 departure; cross MDDOG at 9000'; ATC/at or above 9000';. Cross TARRK at 11000'; ATC/at or above 11000';. Our PDC cleared us to FL190 with SID restrictions. When I checked in with LAS departure; I heard the controller assigning unrestricted climb to previous traffic. Climbing through 5000';; I asked the Departure Controller about the NOTAM altitudes and which set applied to us regarding ATC vs. at or above altitudes. He replied with yes; comply with the NOTAM at or above altitudes and then stated climb unrestricted through 11000';. I read that back and understood that we were to climb unrestricted to 11000'; and then continue to climb to FL190 while complying with the rest of the restrictions. My First Officer had the same understanding and he was the pilot flying. Controller never said 'climb and maintain 11000''. ATC gave us a traffic alert at 12000' and instructed us to maintain 12000'. ATC notified us of a B737. We had said traffic in sight. There was not any TCAS conflict. We were given a phone number and advised by the controller to call it upon landing; for a possible deviation. I contacted the TRACON supervisor upon arrival. After hearing my explanation; he agreed to investigate further as well as listen to the tapes. He called me back to inform me that he concurred with our explanation. He acknowledged that the controller did not use standard phraseology. He also said that altitude busts unfortunately happen quite often in Las Vegas due to the complex altitude restrictions. I agree with that assessment. I think the communication issues coupled with multiple complex crossing restrictions are causing deviations and confusion. Standard; clear; and timely communication between the controller and pilot is crucial.In this case; my question about the NOTAM to the controller aggravated the problem. Next time; I will try to clarify the questionable NOTAMs on the ground to avoid confusion. I will also query the controllers about incomplete and suspect clearances.

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.

Attributes
ACN	957698
Time
Date	201107
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	L30.TRACON
State Reference	NV
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	A320
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Climb
Route In Use	SID SHEAD7
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Not Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 208 Flight Crew Total 17000 Flight Crew Type 6800
Person 2
Function	First Officer Pilot Flying
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 150 Flight Crew Total 13000 Flight Crew Type 3200
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types

Air carrier departure from las described confusion regarding the shead 7 SID; the crossing altitudes ATC vs. Conventional; the NOTAM instructions and ATC's phraseology.