Best to Level off When You Have Pressurization Issues

[pelmet]

Of course, one should consider terrain before levelling off but why climb to FL220 when the cabin alert went off at 16,000'.

C-GRUU, a Carson Air Textron (Beechcraft) B300 (Super King Air), was conducting flight CRN411-
medevac from Dawson Creek (CYDQ), BC, to Vancouver Int'l (CYVR), BC, with 2 flight crew
members and 3 passengers on board. When climbing through approximately 16 000 feet above
sea level (ASL) the flight crew received a cabin altitude warning indication, indicating cabin
pressure was at least 12 500 feet ASL. The passenger oxygen masks deployed from the overhead
panels. The flight crew stopped the climb at flight level (FL) 220, and requested a descent to
16,000 feet ASL. During the descent, the cabin altitude was able to be reduced to 11 000 feet ASL.
The flight crew diverted to Prince George (CYXS), BC, and landed without further incident. Priority
handling by air traffic services was not requested by the flight crew, however, the on-board medical
crew activated emergency services to be standing by to accept the patient upon landing. This
resulted in their medical dispatch centre reporting an emergency event to the airport and
subsequently the airport's ARFF being activated.

Subsequent maintenance activities revealed a tear in the airstair entrance door seal and a cracked
airstair door hinge. The door seal was repaired and the hinge replaced. The aircraft was then
returned to service.

[AirFrame]

Yep. A Citation flying from Spain to Germany found that out the hard way this weekend as well.

[daedalusx]

Of course, one should consider terrain before levelling off but why climb to FL220 when the cabin alert went off at 16,000'.

C-GRUU, a Carson Air Textron (Beechcraft) B300 (Super King Air), was conducting flight CRN411-
medevac from Dawson Creek (CYDQ), BC, to Vancouver Int'l (CYVR), BC, with 2 flight crew
members and 3 passengers on board. When climbing through approximately 16 000 feet above
sea level (ASL) the flight crew received a cabin altitude warning indication, indicating cabin
pressure was at least 12 500 feet ASL. The passenger oxygen masks deployed from the overhead
panels. The flight crew stopped the climb at flight level (FL) 220, and requested a descent to
16,000 feet ASL. During the descent, the cabin altitude was able to be reduced to 11 000 feet ASL.
The flight crew diverted to Prince George (CYXS), BC, and landed without further incident. Priority
handling by air traffic services was not requested by the flight crew, however, the on-board medical
crew activated emergency services to be standing by to accept the patient upon landing. This
resulted in their medical dispatch centre reporting an emergency event to the airport and
subsequently the airport's ARFF being activated.

Subsequent maintenance activities revealed a tear in the airstair entrance door seal and a cracked
airstair door hinge. The door seal was repaired and the hinge replaced. The aircraft was then
returned to service.

Super important to check the door seals on a Kingair after loading the patients as well as checking the door hooks and pins after closing the door. It’s not that hard to bump one of these hooks with the gear and spin it 180deg and have improper latching and you won’t get a door warning on the ground, and you might only realize that you’re not pressurized properly on the climb out.

The other interesting question would be if they refuelled in YDQ and if so, how much.

I guess the TLDR is that plan the unexpected, always tanker a bit more in case you loose a bleed or have cabin pressure and have to carry a long flight with a higher than expected burn.
Buddy of mine did a YEG YZF flight and didn’t take full fuel out of YEG and had a bleed air issue halfway through. They landed with not a whole lot left. Not a good time.

[co-joe]

Was it winter time? Passengers kicking to snow off their boots on the door seal is a classic example of how they can get wrecked by a simple innocent (and well intended) gesture.

There's other ways this can happen of course. We had a newly glued in door seal blow out on climb out from YFB once. It sounded like a giant whoopee cushion. Apparently PRC needs more than 2 hours to cure...who knew?

[Eric Janson]

What makes no sense is why they continued climbing with a Pressurisation issue.

First step is to put on your oxygen mask - protect yourself

Second step is to descend - 10000' or MSA whichever is higher.