Narrative:

We had tried to land but were unable due to gust front and dust; wind gust to 65 and 3/4 mile in dust. We held for about 20 minutes and dispatch decided to have us divert. We were cleared back to our departure airport to climb to FL350. I was pilot flying but had given the aircraft to the first officer so I could talk to ATC; dispatch; flight attendants and passengers. Climbing out of 30;000 ft we got the cabin altitude warning and noticed the cabin slowly climbing through 10;000 ft. Masks were put on and lower was requested from ATC. We started a decent to FL240 and then to 16;000 ft. The altitude warning checklist was run; and after selecting man AC full closed; we got about 3;000 FPM descent on the cabin. I went back to auto and got a 600 FPM descent. The cabin reached about 12;000 ft but the masks did not drop. We were descending into moderate rain with moderate turbulence and moderate rime ice; and the flight attendants had just asked to get up to do a water service. The first officer was doing a great job flying while I talked to ATC and ran checklists and ATC was very helpful. We did not declare an emergency; probably should have; but they gave us lower right away and we got the cabin back under control. We never got a pack or bleed trip or controller fail. After we got the cabin below 10;000 ft; we continued with a normal arrival and landing. Maintenance was contacted and a logbook entry was made and the aircraft was taken out of service for inspection. I did learn that maintenance needs to know the duct pressure from the packs which I did look at and we had pressure but I don't remember how much.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: While climbing through FL300 and returning to the departure airport after a missed approach; a B737-500 pressurization failed but during the descent was recovered using MAN AC so the cabin did not exceed 12;000 FT.

Narrative: We had tried to land but were unable due to gust front and dust; wind gust to 65 and 3/4 mile in dust. We held for about 20 minutes and Dispatch decided to have us divert. We were cleared back to our departure airport to climb to FL350. I was pilot flying but had given the aircraft to the First Officer so I could talk to ATC; Dispatch; flight attendants and passengers. Climbing out of 30;000 FT we got the Cabin Altitude Warning and noticed the cabin slowly climbing through 10;000 FT. Masks were put on and lower was requested from ATC. We started a decent to FL240 and then to 16;000 FT. The Altitude Warning Checklist was run; and after selecting MAN AC full closed; we got about 3;000 FPM descent on the cabin. I went back to Auto and got a 600 FPM descent. The cabin reached about 12;000 FT but the masks did not drop. We were descending into moderate rain with moderate turbulence and moderate rime ice; and the flight attendants had just asked to get up to do a water service. The First Officer was doing a great job flying while I talked to ATC and ran checklists and ATC was very helpful. We did not declare an emergency; probably should have; but they gave us lower right away and we got the cabin back under control. We never got a pack or bleed trip or controller fail. After we got the cabin below 10;000 FT; we continued with a normal arrival and landing. Maintenance was contacted and a logbook entry was made and the aircraft was taken out of service for inspection. I did learn that Maintenance needs to know the duct pressure from the packs which I did look at and we had pressure but I don't remember how much.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.