PA-28 Cherokee/Archer/Dakota/Pillan/Warrior
Flight Crew Commercial; Flight Crew Instrument
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 21; Flight Crew Total 1796; Flight Crew Type 741
Troubleshooting; Confusion; Situational Awareness; Distraction
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Deviation - Altitude Overshoot; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Clearance; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Air Traffic Control Issued New Clearance; Air Traffic Control Provided Assistance; Flight Crew Requested ATC Assistance / Clarification; Flight Crew Became Reoriented; Flight Crew Overcame Equipment Problem
Human Factors; Aircraft; Software and Automation
After flying a practice RNAV (GPS) approach into ZZZ; I was climbing through 2;000 feet on the missed approach when I checked in with Approach. Approach provided an altimeter setting (30.12; which had changed since my last check-in of 30.11) and a few seconds later provided a heading for vectors for the ILS at ZZZ1.  I leveled off at the assigned altitude of 3;000 feet and shortly after; ATC asked me to maintain 3;000 feet.  Considering my altimeter was reading 3;020 feet; I knew this call meant something was not right.  I scanned the instruments and saw the altimeter setting was now set to 29.92. I requested the altimeter setting again and when I entered the correct setting; I was approximately 300 feet above my assigned altitude.  After landing I was able to determine the sequence of events that caused this deviation.My airplane has an Aspen Avionics Evolution 1000 PFD.  I have had this for the last X years and feel I am proficient in operating it.  It has a feature that; in my piston powered general aviation airplane; is not used.  If you press the 'baro' button and then push the right knob; the altimeter setting will change to 29.92.  Since I never climb to FL180; I have never used this feature. In this situation; when I contacted ATC; they gave me the altimeter setting; and since it was different; I pushed the 'baro' button and turned the right knob to the correct setting. When ATC then provided me a vector; I needed to move the heading bug almost 180 degrees (it had been set during the southbound approach and now I was flying northbound).  Instead of spinning the heading knob (the same right knob) 180 degrees; I pushed the knob which automatically sets the heading bug to the current heading.  What I didn't realize was that when I pushed the right knob; the 'baro' function was still active and therefore set the altimeter to 29.92.  The heading bug also aligned to the current heading; however since I was in turbulence; I assume I bumped the knob twice instead of once.  I didn't notice the change in altitude because I was in a climb.  When I reached 3;000 feet; I leveled off like normal without being aware that I was higher than I should be.Moving forward I will need to be more careful and aware of what function is active in the PFD before making changes.  However; my fear is that it may be another X or more years before something like this happens again and as time moves forward; we tend to forget these events.  I do think this is an opportunity for Aspen to make a software revision.  If this baro reset feature is meant for aircraft passing through 18;000 feet; it would be nice if this feature could be disabled for installations in aircraft that cannot reach that altitude.  Alternatively; if this feature is meant for aircraft passing through 18;000 feet and it is utilized at an altitude well below that; a flashing yellow flag (similar to what happens when approaching the selected altitude) would help to visually annotate the change that was just made. I'm not trying to remove responsibility from the pilot; but the pilot has hundreds of things to remember when flying.  Modern avionics should not be adding to the list of quirks that need to be remembered.
PA-28 pilot reported an altitude excursion due to an incorrect operation of the Aspen Evolution 1000 PFD; which reset their altimeter to 29.92.