MD83 captain reports his ears popping at FL240 and discovers both packs have tripped off. Packs will...

Narrative:

While level at FL240 on the arrival; I noticed my ears popping. I looked up and discovered that both packs were tripped off; the cabin was climbing at 1;500 FPM; and the outflow valve was fully closed. I attempted to reset each pack with no luck. I declared an emergency with center telling them that I had lost control of the cabin and needed an immediate descent. They attempted to give us an altitude in the mid teens; and when I told them to give us a turn off of course; and clearance to 8;000 ft they finally give us the direct descent we needed. The cabin reached 10;000 ft in its climb just as the aircraft passed 10;000 ft on its descent to 8;000 ft; so we never exceeded 10;000 ft in the cabin. We were finally able to regain both packs after being level at 8;000 MSL for several minutes. Once we had both packs back online; with the cabin level at 8;000 ft; we then had to delay our descent for landing until the pressurization could catch back up with the normal descent schedule. A long downwind leg with a fifteen mile final allowed us to make a normal approach and landing.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: MD83 Captain reports his ears popping at FL240 and discovers both packs have tripped off. Packs will not reset and an emergency descent is initiated. Once level at 8;000 FT the packs are successfully reset and a normal landing ensues.

Narrative: While level at FL240 on the arrival; I noticed my ears popping. I looked up and discovered that both packs were tripped off; the cabin was climbing at 1;500 FPM; and the outflow valve was fully closed. I attempted to reset each pack with no luck. I declared an emergency with Center telling them that I had lost control of the cabin and needed an immediate descent. They attempted to give us an altitude in the mid teens; and when I told them to give us a turn off of course; and clearance to 8;000 FT they finally give us the direct descent we needed. The cabin reached 10;000 FT in its climb just as the aircraft passed 10;000 FT on its descent to 8;000 FT; so we never exceeded 10;000 FT in the cabin. We were finally able to regain both packs after being level at 8;000 MSL for several minutes. Once we had both packs back online; with the cabin level at 8;000 FT; we then had to delay our descent for landing until the pressurization could catch back up with the normal descent schedule. A long downwind leg with a fifteen mile final allowed us to make a normal approach and landing.

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.

Attributes
ACN	930337
Time
Date	201101
Local Time Of Day	0001-0600
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	MD-83
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Descent
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Air Conditioning and Pressurization Pack
Person 1
Function	Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Person 2
Function	First Officer
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical

MD83 captain reports his ears popping at FL240 and discovers both packs have tripped off. Packs will not reset and an emergency descent is initiated. Once level at 8;000 ft the packs are successfully reset and a normal landing ensues.