Narrative:

The airplane had been signed off for several issues; emergency lights illuminated when 'armed' selected and a pressurization problem. My concern is that maintenance there was influenced to do the minimum to sign off and move the airplane. When I did my cockpit checks upon arrival; the emergency lights were on with batt on and switch in arm. Maintenance signed it off as unable to duplicate. We had the airplane towed out of the hangar (where it had been overnight) and repeated our pre-flight checks. I started the APU and was getting the clearance when my partner was unable to open the main cabin door as the primary door seal was inflated. We were pulled back into the hanger; and maintenance signed off as unable to duplicate. They said they put air on the airplane and it worked fine. We were towed out; and departed for [destination]. After about an hour at FL400 we had the cabin alt light with master warning. As we donned the O2 masks I noted the cabin passing 20;000ft. We made the emergency descent; ran the checklists and diverted to [an alternate airport]. It was VMC and long runway (plus a service center). I understand that the airplane is still there and failed an operational check flight (ocf). Again; I think the maintenance people in [departure station] were acting under the direction of [operations] to do only what was necessary to get the airplane in the air.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: CE-560XLS First Oficer reported diverting to an alternate airport after experiencing loss of cabin pressure. Reporter expressed concern that maintenance at the departure airport was under pressure to get the airplane out of town.

Narrative: The airplane had been signed off for several issues; emergency lights illuminated when 'Armed' selected and a pressurization problem. My concern is that Maintenance there was influenced to do the minimum to sign off and move the airplane. When I did my cockpit checks upon arrival; the emergency lights were on with Batt On and switch in ARM. Maintenance signed it off as unable to duplicate. We had the airplane towed out of the hangar (where it had been overnight) and repeated our pre-flight checks. I started the APU and was getting the clearance when my partner was unable to open the Main Cabin Door as the Primary Door Seal was inflated. We were pulled back into the hanger; and maintenance signed off as unable to duplicate. They said they put air on the airplane and it worked fine. We were towed out; and departed for [destination]. After about an hour at FL400 we had the Cabin Alt light with Master Warning. As we donned the O2 masks I noted the cabin passing 20;000ft. We made the emergency descent; ran the checklists and diverted to [an alternate airport]. It was VMC and long runway (plus a service center). I understand that the airplane is still there and failed an Operational Check Flight (OCF). Again; I think the maintenance people in [departure station] were acting under the direction of [Operations] to do only what was necessary to get the airplane in the air.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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.