FLC OF AN ATR42 COMMUTER CLBS ABOVE ASSIGNED ALT ON DEP NOT USING THE FLT DIRECTOR. BOTH FLC AND ATC DISCOVER THE DEV AND FLT RETURNS TO ASSIGNED ALT.

Narrative

I AM A CAPT WITH A COMMUTER AIRLINE. ON A VERY CLR DAY; MY FO WAS FLYING THE TRIP FROM IAH TO LCH. WE WERE GIVEN AN ASSIGNED HDG UP TO 4000 FT. I MADE THE CALL '1000 FT TO GO' AT 3000 FT. I WAS UNAWARE THAT MY FO HAD DECIDED TO FLY RAW DATA AND WAS NOT USING THE FLT DIRECTOR ON HER SIDE. XING 4300 FT; ATC REQUESTED ALT FROM US. AT THAT TIME MY FO AND MYSELF REALIZED WE HAD GONE THROUGH OUR ASSIGNED ALT. WE REACHED AN ALT OF 4400 FT BEFORE REVERSING OUR COURSE. ATC THEN TOLD US TO 'GET IT DOWN' AFTER I TOLD HIM THAT WE WERE 'LEVELING BACK TO 4000 FT.' AT THE TIME OF THE OCCURRENCE I WAS RPTING MY TIME OFF TO OPS AND HAD QUIT MONITORING THE CLB. NO TFC CONFLICT OCCURRED AND THE TCASII WAS CLR. AFTER LEVELING AT 4000 FT WE WERE GIVEN HIGHER ABOUT 2 MINS LATER. I BELIEVE THE PROB OCCURRED BECAUSE I HAD QUIT MONITORING THE CLBOUT AND MY FO WAS NOT USING THE FLT DIRECTOR. I DO REMEMBER HEARING THE ALTDEV 'C NOTE' AT THE SAME TIME ATC FIRST CONTACTED US. FLT DIRECTORS AND AUTOPLTS ARE GREAT TOOLS; BUT HAVE THE ILL EFFECT OF WEAKENING OUR BASIC PLT SKILLS. WE TEND TO RELY ON THEM TOO MUCH. I BELIEVE IF I HAD KNOWN MY FO WAS FLYING RAW DATA I WOULD HAVE BEEN MORE ATTENTIVE. MY FO IS FAIRLY NEW WITH THE COMPANY AND ALMOST ALL HER FLYING HAS BEEN WITH THE FLT DIRECTOR.