B737-400 flight crew reports forgetting to reset altimeters to 29.92 passing 18;000 FT in the climb; resulting in a 1;300 FT overshoot due to very low altimeter setting. Crew cites fatigue and ATC distractions as contributing factors.
Synopsis
B737-400 flight crew reports forgetting to reset altimeters to 29.92 passing 18;000 FT in the climb; resulting in a 1;300 FT overshoot due to very low altimeter setting. Crew cites fatigue and ATC distractions as contributing factors.
Narrative
I departed on day 4 of a 4 day trip. First flight of the day; [we had a] low altimeter setting; 28.59. On climb we did not get the altimeter set to 29.92 passing 18;000 FT. This resulted in us being 1;300 FT above our assigned altitude at level off. ATC informed us we were off altitude.I see 3 reasons why this happened. First when we were passing 18;000 FT we were working with ATC on a reroute. There was confusion on what our new route was. This confusion over the clearance distracted us at the time we should have set the altimeter to 29.92. Second; we have no climb check. Third; we were on the last day of a 4 day trip that we flew over 28 hours. The 4 day trip involved many weather issues; holding; and many operational irregularities. We were tired. Our trip had swapped early flying for late flying for early flying. We ended up overflying by 3.5 hrs. I don't think we realized just how fatigued we were.We corrected the altimeter setting and corrected the altitude. Trip parings should be built that try to avoid flipping the circadian clock; also two five leg days in a 4 day trip that also flies two transcontinental flights has a very high potential for fatigue to build up over the course of the trip. Any way you look at it flying over 28 hrs in four days is fatiguing.
Second reporter narrative
Once level at FL290. ATC nicely called us and asked us about our assigned altitude. I responded confidently with FL290. He then reminded us about the low altimeter setting we started with. Altimeter setting was corrected and a descent was made back to FL290. Altitude deviation was 1;300 FT.This was day 4 of a long 4 day trip. The original pairing was blocked at 25 hours. We were beginning day 4 over by approx 3 hours. The fourth day of the pairing is 5 legs. A long day without the complications of weather. We were dealing with high winds at every station. We were fatigued. We didn't have a climb check list to TRAP the error between FL180 and FL290.
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Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.