Cessna Citation Undifferentiated or Other Model
Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Multiengine
Situational Awareness; Confusion; Troubleshooting
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Deviation - Altitude Excursion From Assigned Altitude; Deviation - Track / Heading All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Clearance; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Air Traffic Control Issued New Clearance
Human Factors; Aircraft
Today we departed Runway 24 via the TEB2 (Teterboro two) departure. As Pilot Monitoring; I was monitoring the instruments and talking on the radios. The TEB2 was briefed prior to takeoff and as a crew we thought there was an accurate understanding of the departure. Once cleared for takeoff; the Pilot Flying flew heading 240 degrees while climbing to 1500 feet and continued flying heading 240. In the climb tower told us to contact departure; upon checking in on 128.55 ATC said to recycle our transponder and squawk the assigned code. After a recycling the transponder a few times; ATC still did not have our altitude readout. At that point they instructed us to climb 2000 feet; fly heading 280 and informed us that they still didn't have our transponder and we flew the SID wrong. After being vectored and handed off to the next sector; our transponder finally came online. We complied with and read back all ATC instructions the entire duration of flight. There were no other known issues with the Mode C function of our transponder. Once in cruise; I looked at the TEB2 SID to see what errors could have been made. The TEB2 departure taking off Runway 24 states: Climb heading 240 to 1500 (do not climb above 1500); then turn RIGHT heading 280. The aircraft we were flying is DME equipped; therefore it also reads Cross 4.5 TEB at 1500; then climb and MAINTAIN 2000. Even though I was not Pilot Flying; I misinterpreted the instructions and briefed: Fly heading 240 to 1500; then turn heading 280 at 4.5 TEB then climb and maintain 2000. After re-reading the chart; I understand what errors were made and what instructions I misinterpreted.
Citation pilot reported misinterpreting SID instructions as well as intermittent Mode C reception by ATC.