AN ACR B727 FLC'S CAPT FORGOT TO CHANGE TO THE LCL ALTIMETER SETTING DSNDING OUT OF FL180 SO AS THEY APCHED THEIR LEVELOFF ALT OF 13000 FT THE CAPT'S ALTIMETER SHOWED LESS THAN 13000 FT.

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ON JAN/FRI/98; WE HAD WHAT MIGHT HAVE APPEARED TO BE AN ALT EXCURSION. I WAS THE CAPT ON AN ACR FROM ORD TO ATL AND WE HAD STARTED DSCNT ON THE ROME ARR INTO ATLANTA. THE TIME WAS APPROX XA10 LCL AND WE APPEARED TO BE THE ONLY ONE ON APCH WHICH IS UNUSUAL FOR ATLANTA. THE WX WAS GOOD WITH BETTER THAN 25 MI VISIBILITY. WE WERE GIVEN THE CLRNC TO CROSS THE ERLIN INTXN AT 13000 FT. THE COPLT WAS FLYING THE ACFT AND GOING THROUGH 18000 FT HE CALLED FOR THE DSCNT CHK. OUR RATE OF DSCNT WAS APPROX 3500-4000 FPM. I REACHED UP TO TURN THE LIGHTS ON AND ABOUT THAT TIME ZTL CHANGED US OVER TO APCH CTL. I IMMEDIATELY ANSWERED; TUNED THE FREQ; AND CHKED IN WITH ATL APCH. THEY IMMEDIATELY GAVE US PRESENT POS DIRECT CATTA WHICH IS THE OM/ADF FOR RWY 8L. I ANSWERED AND IMMEDIATELY ATTEMPTED TO TUNE CATTA. I WASN'T HAVING MUCH LUCK IN TUNING CATTA WHICH IS A LITTLE MORE DIFFICULT TO TUNE ON OUR OLDER B727'S SINCE THEY USE A RADIO DIAL TYPE MECHANISM. I CALLED GOING THROUGH 14000 FT FOR 13000 FT THEN GAVE TUNING CATTA ANOTHER TRY. ABOUT THIS TIME THE COPLT GOT MY ATTN BY ASKING MY ALT. THE COPLT WHO WAS AT ABOUT 13300 FT AND STARTING TO LEVEL LOOKED AT MY ALTIMETER (MOST COPLTS LEVEL AND FLY THE ACFT ON THE CAPT'S ALTIMETER BECAUSE IT IS THE ONLY ONE THAT IS CORRECTED BY THE CADC AND IS MORE ACCURATE AT ALT). MY ALTIMETER WAS ABOUT 12700-12800 FT WHILE HIS SHOWED 13300 FT. WE QUICKLY COMPARED OUR SETTINGS AND NOTICED I HAD NOT TUNED TO THE LOCAL/BELOW 18000 FT SETTING OF 30.53. THE COPLT HAD HIS TUNED TO THE PROPER LCL ALTIMETER SETTING. THE COPLT COMPLETED THE LEVELOFF AT 13000 FT AND I QUICKLY TUNED MY ALTIMETER TO THE PROPER LCL ALTIMETER SETTING. ALMOST IMMEDIATELY WE WERE GIVEN FURTHER DSCNT TO 10000 FT. WE RERAN THE DSCNT CHK TO SEE IF ANYTHING ELSE HAD BEEN MISSED WHILE BEING INTERRUPTED BY ZTL DURING THE ORIGINAL START OF THE DSCNT CHK. IN SUMMARY THERE WAS NO ALT EXCURSION; BUT MAY HAVE APPEARED TO BE SO DUE TO MY DELAY IN SETTING MY CAPT'S ALTIMETER. IT WOULD ONLY APPEAR SO IF THE DATA FROM THE CAPT'S ALTIMETER FEEDS THE XPONDER. IF THE XPONDER HAS ITS OWN ALT SENSING AND IS CORRECTED BY THE CTR'S COMPUTER IT WOULD HAVE SHOWED OUR ALT OF 13300 FT THE ALT WE WERE AT WHEN WE NOTICED THE DISCREPANCY. ATL APCH DID NOT QUERY US ON OUR ALT BUT WE THOUGHT THIS WAS WORTHY ENOUGH TO BE MENTIONED. THE LESSONS LEARNED FROM THIS INCIDENT ARE NUMBER ONE TO BE CAREFUL ABOUT FINISHING CHKLISTS WHEN AN INTERRUPTION OCCURS. MAKE SURE YOU GET BACKUP CALLS FROM THE ENGINEER AND COPLT IN COMPLETING CHKS. IN THIS CASE THE COPLT CAUGHT MY ERROR BARELY IN TIME. I REBRIEFED THE ENGINEER TO MAKE SURE WHEN HE READS A CHKLIST ITEM HE CHKS THAT THE CALLED FOR ITEM GETS DONE BY BOTH CREW MEMBERS AND NUMBER TWO HE GETS A RESPONSE FROM BOTH CREW MEMBERS. BEING A NEW CAPT THIS WILL BECOME A HIGH EMPHASIS ITEM FOR ME ON FUTURE CREW BRIEFS.