Q400 first officer describes an altitude deviation which occurs when the captain; who is new to the ...

Narrative:

The captain; who is new to the Q400; is the pilot flying; I was the non-flying pilot. We were level at our cruise altitude with the autopilot engaged. I was off frequency to obtain the ATIS and then to call company. As I was writing; I felt the aircraft pitch up and start a climb. I looked at the flight instruments and saw that the aircraft was in a 1;500 FPM climb with the altitude 500 ft above assigned. I turned my hotmic back on and told the captain he was 600 ft high. He then turned off the autopilot and started a descent. I looked at my altimeter setting which was correct. I looked at the captain's which was off by a lot. I told him the current altimeter setting and he set it. He then leveled off at our assigned altitude. I asked the captain how his altimeter was so off. Turns out; he went to set the landing bugs and inadvertently grabbed and spun the altimeter setting knob rather than the airspeed knob.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Q400 First officer describes an altitude deviation which occurs when the Captain; who is new to the aircraft; inadvertently grabbed and spun the altimeter setting knob rather than the airspeed bug knob while setting the landing bugs.

Narrative: The Captain; who is new to the Q400; is the pilot flying; I was the non-flying pilot. We were level at our cruise altitude with the autopilot engaged. I was off frequency to obtain the ATIS and then to call company. As I was writing; I felt the aircraft pitch up and start a climb. I looked at the flight instruments and saw that the aircraft was in a 1;500 FPM climb with the altitude 500 FT above assigned. I turned my hotmic back on and told the Captain he was 600 FT high. He then turned off the autopilot and started a descent. I looked at my altimeter setting which was correct. I looked at the Captain's which was off by a lot. I told him the current altimeter setting and he set it. He then leveled off at our assigned altitude. I asked the Captain how his altimeter was so off. Turns out; he went to set the landing bugs and inadvertently grabbed and spun the altimeter setting knob rather than the airspeed knob.

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	981487
Time
Date	201111
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Q400
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Cruise
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Altimeter
Person 1
Function	First Officer Pilot Not Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Commercial
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Altitude Excursion From Assigned Altitude Deviation - Procedural Clearance

Q400 first officer describes an altitude deviation which occurs when the captain; who is new to the aircraft; inadvertently grabbed and spun the altimeter setting knob rather than the airspeed bug knob while setting the landing bugs.