2010-09 · NASA ASRS report 911222
A Captain of a B737-700 fumbled with the autoflight mode selections on climb out and failed to meet a crossing restriction on the SID as a direct result.
While climbing out we were given a climb to FL190 but asked to comply with all restrictions on the SID. Approaching the next waypoint; I meant to select VNAV and Speed Intervention at 210 KIAS; but inadvertently hit Level Change at 210 KIAS instead. Climbing rapidly toward the 7;000 or below restriction; I saw that VNAV was not engaged and; in my haste; selected VNAV again. Desiring a 210 KIAS climb speed; I meant to select Speed Intervention 210 KIAS but repeated my previous systems error and reselected Level Change a second time. Of course we flew through the restriction and leveled late at about 8;000 MSL; and then descended back to 7;000 just to or beyond the fix. The First Officer stated I confused him with what I was attempting (VNAV/Level Change) and by the time he realized I meant VNAV/Speed Intervention; we were sailing through the restriction. My error was not as much a lack of systems knowledge as it was not watching which button my finger was pressing under the time constraint. The First Officer and I both discussed the need to speak up and coordinate more assertively; fly; and monitor.
They assigned us a climb clearance; 'Climb to FL190 and comply with the altitude restrictions.' I was the pilot not flying and read back the clearance. I then set the Altitude Alerter to FL190; and restated the clearance out loud to the Captain; who was the pilot flying. He acknowledged the clearance and pointed to the set altitude. He was utilizing the autopilot to fly the aircraft. Before takeoff he selected the autothrottles and LNAV modes so I thought that he was fairly knowledgeable of the LNAV/VNAV/autothrottles use. This was our first leg ever flown together. We were relatively light and climbing at 210 KTS so we had a good climb rate. I stated again that we needed to comply with the altitude restrictions; at or below 7;000 FT at the next waypoint. The Captain then switched to VNAV; then back to Level Change 210; and then back to VNAV. He left the autopilot in VNAV for a couple of moments so I thought we were in a good mode; but then he switched back to Level Change and dialed in 230. Then he went back to VNAV. I repeated that we need to make the crossing restriction; and he nodded but didn't say anything and changed back to Level Change 210.This surprised me as I had previously thought that he was trying to accomplish some convoluted way of accelerating the aircraft smoothly to 250 KTS and then engage VNAV; as he kept engaging VNAV and then switching out of it for Level Change. Also; as I monitored our progress on the MFD; it appeared that this method would work to keep us below our at or below 7;000 FT restriction.But when he switched back to Level Change 210; it increased our climb rate so much that it took us close to our altitude restriction. I again reminded him of our 'at or below restriction.' The Captain then switched off the autopilot and manually flew the aircraft as we climbed through 7;600 FT and leveled for a moment at 8;000 FT. He started to descend a bit; but realized we were past the waypoint and needed to climb for the next restrictions being 'at or above restrictions.' We continued on. The Captain later described to me that he wanted to use the Speed Intervention function; but having not flown in the past eleven days he had had a lapse in judgment and accidentally used Level Change. He apologized for the error. We did not have any traffic conflicts.
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Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.
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