An MD80 crew detected a pressurization flow light climbing through FL200. The emergency depressuriza...

Attributes
ACN	868840
Time
Date	201001
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.ARTCC
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Medium Large Transport Low Wing 2 Turbojet Eng
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Climb
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Pressurization System
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Captain
Person 2
Function	Pilot Not Flying First Officer
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

Narrative:

Climbing through FL200 I looked up and saw the pressurization flow annunciator light on. I stopped climb; asked for the rapid depressurization checklist; and first officer suggested we don our O2 masks. I asked for a lower altitude. First officer ran the checklist; we could not stop the cabin climb. We got a turn back to a nearby airport; continued descent to 10;000 ft. Cabin kept climbing; we got a lower altitude on approach frequency and landed on runway 28. We did land overweight; requiring us to declare an emergency. I did not; thinking the cabin altitude was no longer a problem because we were already below 10;000 ft. I did not remember that the overweight landing required an emergency be declared. Landed safely at 150;000 pounds.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An MD80 crew detected a pressurization flow light climbing through FL200. The Emergency Depressurization Checklist was completed. As the cabin continued climbing the crew descended and turned toward a nearby airport.

Narrative: Climbing through FL200 I looked up and saw the pressurization flow annunciator light on. I stopped climb; asked for the rapid depressurization checklist; and First Officer suggested we don our O2 masks. I asked for a lower altitude. First Officer ran the checklist; we could not stop the cabin climb. We got a turn back to a nearby airport; continued descent to 10;000 FT. Cabin kept climbing; we got a lower altitude on approach frequency and landed on Runway 28. We did land overweight; requiring us to declare an emergency. I did not; thinking the cabin altitude was no longer a problem because we were already below 10;000 FT. I did not remember that the overweight landing required an emergency be declared. Landed safely at 150;000 LBS.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.

An MD80 crew detected a pressurization flow light climbing through FL200. The emergency depressurization checklist was completed. As the cabin continued climbing the crew descended and turned toward a nearby airport.