Narrative:

Bleed 2 was under MEL deferral. While climbing through approximately 25;000 ft; an EICAS message 'bleed 1 fail' occurred. Immediately; cabin altitude began to climb. First officer requested a descent to 10;000; which we were granted immediately. As we began the descent; we ran the QRH procedure and were able to restore bleed 1 and the pressurization of the aircraft. Maintenance control advised that the extremely hot conditions on the ground probably caused the incident and suggested that we make another attempt to climb to altitude and continue to destination. I advised them that we would require maintenance to meet the aircraft; to which they responded that they would call contract maintenance to meet us there. We requested a climb back to altitude and advised ATC that the issue was resolved. We were assigned FL270. As we climbed through FL210; the EICAS message 'bleed 1 fail' occurred again. First officer advised ATC of the event and requested a descent to 10;000. It is to be noted that the cabin began to lose altitude more rapidly the second time than the first. Controls were transferred to the first officer. As we began the descent; ATC informed us that it might be 'awhile' before we would be able to get down to 10;000. I informed them that our cabin was climbing and that time was of the essence. As we approached our first assigned altitude of 17;000; ATC gave us a lower altitude and then informed us that 'getting us down to 10;000 might be a problem.' I again informed ATC that we would be required to descend to 10;000. We were given a lower altitude (I think 15;000) then given traffic advisories and a lower altitude. As I again informed ATC of our need to continue descent; the controller advised us that he was declaring an emergency for us gave us a heading and asked us to advise of our intentions. I suggested that we may end up in ZZZ1 and again contacted company via radio. Dispatch told us to go to ZZZ. I disagreed; informing them that ZZZ was 300 miles away and that ZZZ2 was only 70-80 miles behind us. It is to be noted that as we descended; we had to take several deviations to avoid cumulonimbus clouds. Our dispatcher informed us that we would require 7;000 pounds fuel to get to ZZZ. We currently had 10;300. I again questioned the decision to divert to ZZZ. Dispatch coordinator spoke to me via radio and informed me that the reason for the decision was that the weather in ZZZ was VFR and that a spare aircraft was available so that we could get our passengers to destination. We proceeded to ZZZ and landed. It is to be noted that we had approximately 3;900 pounds of fuel on board upon landing.it is to be noted that the great actions of my crew kept this from becoming more of an event. The first officer performed her duties with the utmost professionalism and competence. Her advice during the decision-making phase of this flight was absolutely invaluable. The cabin crew; including one relatively new hire; kept our frightened and anxious passengers calm and well-informed. This incident could have had a much worse outcome. My suggestion is that we exercise far more caution in operating these aircraft at high altitude with one bleed deferred; especially during thunderstorm season. The reasoning behind this suggestion is that what we just experienced represents a 'worst case scenario' that; had it not been for the decisiveness of the crew; could have had a much worse outcome. It is not fair to our passengers to subject them to such inconvenience and hazard to their safety; nor is it fair to routinely subject our crews to the possibility of this kind of stress and hazard to their safety.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: EMB175 flight crew was dispatched with Bleed 2 deferred and Bleed 1 failed passing FL250 during climb. During descent Bleed 1 was reestablished and Maintenance recommended a second attempt to climb to altitude. Bleed 1 failed a second time passing FL210 and is again restored during descent. Maintenance and Dispatch send the flight to a distant divert field based on the availability of a spare aircraft.

Narrative: Bleed 2 was under MEL deferral. While climbing through approximately 25;000 FT; an EICAS message 'BLEED 1 FAIL' occurred. Immediately; cabin altitude began to climb. First Officer requested a descent to 10;000; which we were granted immediately. As we began the descent; we ran the QRH procedure and were able to restore Bleed 1 and the pressurization of the aircraft. Maintenance Control advised that the extremely hot conditions on the ground probably caused the incident and suggested that we make another attempt to climb to altitude and continue to destination. I advised them that we would require Maintenance to meet the aircraft; to which they responded that they would call contract maintenance to meet us there. We requested a climb back to altitude and advised ATC that the issue was resolved. We were assigned FL270. As we climbed through FL210; the EICAS message 'BLEED 1 FAIL' occurred again. First Officer advised ATC of the event and requested a descent to 10;000. It is to be noted that the cabin began to lose altitude more rapidly the second time than the first. Controls were transferred to the First Officer. As we began the descent; ATC informed us that it might be 'awhile' before we would be able to get down to 10;000. I informed them that our cabin was climbing and that time was of the essence. As we approached our first assigned altitude of 17;000; ATC gave us a lower altitude and then informed us that 'getting us down to 10;000 might be a problem.' I again informed ATC that we would be required to descend to 10;000. We were given a lower altitude (I think 15;000) then given traffic advisories and a lower altitude. As I again informed ATC of our need to continue descent; the Controller advised us that he was declaring an emergency for us gave us a heading and asked us to advise of our intentions. I suggested that we may end up in ZZZ1 and again contacted company via Radio. Dispatch told us to go to ZZZ. I disagreed; informing them that ZZZ was 300 miles away and that ZZZ2 was only 70-80 miles behind us. It is to be noted that as we descended; we had to take several deviations to avoid cumulonimbus clouds. Our Dispatcher informed us that we would require 7;000 LBS fuel to get to ZZZ. We currently had 10;300. I again questioned the decision to divert to ZZZ. Dispatch Coordinator spoke to me via Radio and informed me that the reason for the decision was that the weather in ZZZ was VFR and that a spare aircraft was available so that we could get our passengers to destination. We proceeded to ZZZ and landed. It is to be noted that we had approximately 3;900 LBS of fuel on board upon landing.It is to be noted that the great actions of my crew kept this from becoming more of an event. The First Officer performed her duties with the utmost professionalism and competence. Her advice during the decision-making phase of this flight was absolutely invaluable. The cabin crew; including one relatively new hire; kept our frightened and anxious passengers calm and well-informed. This incident could have had a much worse outcome. My suggestion is that we exercise FAR MORE CAUTION in operating these aircraft at high altitude with one bleed deferred; especially during thunderstorm season. The reasoning behind this suggestion is that what we just experienced represents a 'worst case scenario' that; had it not been for the decisiveness of the crew; could have had a much worse outcome. It is not fair to our passengers to subject them to such inconvenience and hazard to their safety; nor is it fair to routinely subject our crews to the possibility of this kind of stress and hazard to their safety.

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.