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You're departing from Houston on the RITAA Seven Departure, which has five altitude crossing restrictions. ATC tells you to "climb and maintain 15,000." Do you still need to meet the crossing restrictions?
If ATC wants you to fly a departure procedure, they'll usually assign it in your initial departure clearance. Sometimes, ATC only wants you to fly the lateral course and will assign you a specific altitude to climb to.
Other times, they'll ask you to "climb via" the SID instead of "climb and maintain". When ATC gives you a "climb via", you need to meet every altitude restriction along the route until you reach the SID's top altitude. And that's where our RITAA Seven departure comes in.
On your initial clearance, you were given "climb via the RITAA Seven Departure." After a short vector, you were given direct to the TTAPS waypoint. Your initial altitude restrictions are: TTAPS at or below 4,000 feet, BOTLL at or below 5,000 feet, and FLYZA at or above 7,000 feet.
As you approach TTAPs, ATC instructs you to "climb and maintain 15,000 feet." Because of this instruction, you're allowed to initiate an unrestricted climb to 15,000 feet.
The FAA provides a simple answer to clarify confusion in a Climb Via/Descend Via Q&A Document. It reads...
#9 Question: What if I depart on a climb via clearance and later given a clearance to "Climb and Maintain" an altitude; should I comply with any published altitude restrictions?
#9 Answer: NO. Unlike a "Climb Via" clearance, when cleared to "Climb and Maintain," you are expected to vacate your current altitude and commence an unrestricted climb to comply with the clearance. For aircraft already climbing via a SID, published altitude restrictions are deleted unless re-issued by ATC. Speed restrictions remain in effect unless the controller explicitly cancels or amends the speed restrictions. (remember, speeds are part of the lateral portion of a SID)
As long as you meet published speed restrictions, you can climb as fast or slow as you'd like. Keep in mind, you must always climb at a rate of at least 500 FPM, or you'll need to notify ATC that you're unable to.
If you've been given a "climb and maintain" clearance, you can start cleaning up the airplane and accelerating to the published SID speed restriction or your normal climb speed as soon as you'd like.
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