Summary
The aircraft was issued with an airways clearance to climb straight ahead from runway 34 and maintain 3000 feet. The pilot called airborne and reported on climb to 3000 feet. There was no Secondary Surveillance Radar (SSR) altitude readout evident. The pilot was then cleared to climb to 4000 feet but still no SSR readout was displayed. At approximately 10 nautical miles north of the airport the height readout appeared, indicating 4400 feet. When the pilot was queried he reported on descent to 4000 feet.
The pilot later reported that he had set 4000 feet on the assigned altitude indicator and subsequently noticed that he had inadvertently climbed to 4200 feet.
The pilot also reported that he had noticed the encoding altimeter on the co-pilot panel had not been set to QNH and was indicating 200 feet higher than the pilot's altimeter.
Occurrence summary
| Investigation number | 199300317 |
|---|---|
| Occurrence date | 02/02/1993 |
| Location | 15 km north-west of Sydney |
| State | New South Wales |
| Report release date | 30/08/1993 |
| Report status | Final |
| Investigation type | Occurrence Investigation |
| Investigation status | Completed |
| Mode of transport | Aviation |
| Aviation occurrence category | Operational non-compliance |
| Occurrence class | Incident |
Aircraft details
| Manufacturer | Piper Aircraft Corp |
|---|---|
| Model | PA-31-350 |
| Registration | VH-ATP |
| Sector | Piston |
| Operation type | Air Transport Low Capacity |
| Departure point | Sydney NSW |
| Destination | Coonabarabran NSW |
| Damage | Nil |