CRJ 700 flight crew reported loss of pressurization system control on climb out. After regaining pressurization control in manual; the flight crew elected to perform an air turn back and land at the departure airport.
Synopsis
CRJ 700 flight crew reported loss of pressurization system control on climb out. After regaining pressurization control in manual; the flight crew elected to perform an air turn back and land at the departure airport.
Narrative
Shortly after takeoff out of ZZZ airport we got an auto press caution message at around 3;500 ft. We elected to level off at 5000 ft. and get vectors away from the storms. I was Pilot Flying. I took controls and radios and asked my First Officer to pull out the Quick Reference Checklist and Quick Reference Handbook for Auto Press Caution message. We completed the checklists. Advised Dispatch; ATC; and Flight Attendants. I received reports of ear discomfort from the Flight Attendants.I noted we had passengers onboard who were susceptible to medical issues from potential extraneous ear pressure; i.e. babies and older passengers. We elected to return to the airfield in the interest of safety. Other contributing factors I had in mind were storms; high cruising altitude; high task saturation; and the increase of risk factor of potential further issues/emergencies/failures that could arise in flight on top of the already highly task saturated duty of manual pressurization and deviations of storms.Auto pressurization failure; inner ear pressure issues potentially causing damage. Task saturation. If anything else were to occur during flight on top of having to dedicate duties away from flying to control the pressurization manually then it would increase risk factor and degrade pilot attentiveness and safety of flight further.
Second reporter narrative
Climbing out of ZZZ at 3;500 ft. we got an AUTO PRESS amber message. We elected to stay at 5000 ft. in case of a problem with pressurization. Once stabilized; the Captain called for the Quick Reference Checklist and Quick Reference Handbook which led us to having to turn off auto pressurization and switch it to manual mode. At this point; we could either continue on and manually pressurize the entire flight or just return to the field. We talked to the flight attendants and they mentioned that some people had already been complaining of ear discomfort. We decided that for safety of flight; it was a better idea to return to the field than attempt to continue and possibly cause ear or other pressurization related problems for the 4 babies on board; as well as the crew and other passengers. We followed Quick Reference Handbook procedure and manually pressurized the plane to field elevation at ZZZ and then landed. Other contributing factors to the decision to return included high task saturation due to manually pressurizing while navigating storms in route; high cruise altitude; and the possibility of other problems/emergencies such as ear damage to passengers and crew.
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Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.