B737-800 flight crew reported returning to departure airport when they were unable to control cabin ...

Attributes
ACN	1468841
Time
Date	201707
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737-800
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Climb
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Pressurization Control System
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Total 26000
Person 2
Function	Pilot Not Flying First Officer
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical

Narrative:

Climbing through 11;000 ft 'cabin altitude warning' came on. Leveled the aircraft at 12;000 ft and started looking at the problem. Reset the bleed switches for the engines and could hear air back in the cabin; but pressurization would not come back to normal. Descended the jet back to 10;000 ft...ran the checklists and decided to return to [departure airport] because aircraft would not pressurize. [Advised ATC] of an overweight landing. Informed the cabin crew and passengers; normal approach and overweight landing. All items were written up in the logbook for [maintenance].not sure why the jet didn't pressurize after restored airflow and could not continue in that condition.be more aware of the pressurization earlier in the climb.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737-800 flight crew reported returning to departure airport when they were unable to control cabin pressurization.

Narrative: Climbing through 11;000 FT 'cabin altitude warning' came on. Leveled the aircraft at 12;000 FT and started looking at the problem. Reset the bleed switches for the engines and could hear air back in the cabin; but pressurization would not come back to normal. Descended the jet back to 10;000 FT...ran the checklists and decided to return to [departure airport] because aircraft would not pressurize. [Advised ATC] of an overweight landing. Informed the cabin crew and passengers; normal approach and overweight landing. All items were written up in the logbook for [maintenance].Not sure why the jet didn't pressurize after restored airflow and could not continue in that condition.Be more aware of the pressurization earlier in the climb.

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.