2023-08 · NASA ASRS report 2027345
Air carrier flight crew reported during climb out in turbulence they were below a crossing restriction on the SID and received a Low Altitude Alert from ATC.
Departed ZZZ on the ZZZZZ departure. Standard departure procedures. When climbing on the departure we were in VFR conditions with a fair amount of turbulence but weren't concerned about any terrain as we picked up airspeed for to 250 knots. It seemed initially we would be above 9800 ft. at ZZZZZ but as we climbed it became apparent we were not going to meet the crossing restriction and did not have time to correct pitch enough and ended up around 300 feet low. We did receive a low altitude warning from ATC but informed them at that time we would be above terrain and any other crossing restriction wouldn't be a problem. Cause: Not paying enough attention to climb performance during a turbulent climb out early enough to take corrective action to increase climb rate enough to be at or above a departure crossing restriction. Suggestions: Keep the pitch off the aircraft up with a lower climb out speed to have a higher climb rate necessary for crossing restriction instead of making sure the aircraft is accelerating to 250 knots. Especially in turbulent wind conditions.
Taking off [Runway] XXR ZZZ. I've taken off and landed several times through the year. But it was definitely hotter at this time of year. So when we took off we got into some light to moderate turbulence coming out bouncing around. We cleaned the plane up as soon as we could and went to climb 1 so that we could have the extra power climbing out. Well the plane wanted to pitch over to meet the preset airspeed. I was hand flying at this point for better control through the bumps. As we were climb I became aware too late to realize we weren't going to make 9200 ft. on the ZZZZZ [arrival] at ZZZ. We cross it at about 8900 ft. We met all other altitudes easily. Thinking about potential causes. A slower power setting for the altitude and temperature than what we should have had. Then the next issue was me not adjusting the planes pitch. What I should have done is taken off with max to1 vs to1 with flex power. And adjusted the pitch so that the climb was made vs following the pitch that the plane wanted to do for the airspeed set in.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.
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