2022-11 · NASA ASRS report 1952620
Challenger 350 flight crew reported a cabin air pressure bump and loud wind noise in cruise. The flight crew requested priority handling and diverted to make a precautionary landing.
Approximately 20 minutes beyond Location; we experienced a loud swishing noise; like the main cabin door was losing its seal; with an excruciating ringing like fire alarm sound. A pressure bump was experienced and I thought we were gonna blow the cabin. I immediately squawked 7700 and instructed the First Officer to request priority handling with ZZZZ ATC. Knowing we were on the Route X; which was the furthest northern; east bound route I elected the turn left and parallel the Route X to the North. During the gradual descent; as to not pull the power back too much and completely blow the cabin; the pilot in command (PIC) imputed the offset to the north 5 miles and utilized heading mode to follow the line without executing. ZZZZ Center cleared us FL340; due to one piece of traffic at FL310! We then were cleared to FL250; 15;000 ft.; and finally 10;000 ft. to finish the inbound vectoring to ZZZZ for the ILS XX. The First Officer's (FO) headset created a massive noise; which forced him to remove his headset at approximately 15;000 ft. The winds were 300/21 gust 32. An uneventful landing was executed followed by a cautious taxi to the FBO with Emergency Vehicles in trail. The First Officer; Person A was evaluated for possible ear drum issues. Note: the screaming noise ceased during power down of the DC power switch. The aircraft has been left unlocked for Maintenance.
At FL450 Mach 0.78 approximately 400 nm at Location in cruise; we experienced a sudden series of loud noises including continuous alarms; clicking; screeching and air rushing. No CAS messages; no irregularities from a review of the system synoptic pages. However; we noted irregular cabin altitude readings; so we elected to don oxygen masks. We requested priority handling; Squawked 7700 and called ZZZZ on HF advised. We turned left off track (5 NM offset) and commenced descent initially to FL350; then FL250 and then FL 100 and were cleared to ZZZZ. Passing through FL 150; there was an explosive sound in my headphones which caused a probably rupture to both my eardrum and I therefore disconnected my headphones and gave control of the radio to the flying pilot in command (PIC). The noise in the cockpit continued (est. exceeding 100 dbl) until landing in ZZZZ some 69 minutes after the first indication of an anomaly; At FL100 I went into the cabin to apprise the passengers and it appeared that the sounds were emanating from both cockpit speakers and cabin speaker system as well as potentially other areas of the aircraft. As the sound was so extreme; accurate source identification was difficult to accomplish. After landing; the noise continued until DC switch was selected to off during power down. Of significant note was the fact that the noises heard had overridden the cockpit mute switch which was selecting on (per SOP) during the flight. Cycling the cockpit speaker controls on the audio panels had no impact on the noise throughout the [problem]. Needless to say; there is no 'loud noise' checklist in the QRC. There should be a procedure for this so that crews are directed to (possibly - depending on the outcome of Maintenance investigation of the incident) isolate the audio controls through circuit breakers. Post incident; I called the Chief Pilot (Captain was dealing with Customs) to explain the situation and seek support for passengers and crew. Passengers were understandably traumatized. The Chief Pilot insisted on asking questions unrelated to the wellbeing of passengers and crew. I advised him to listen to our requirements; which eventually he did. Some 3 hours later I spoke to the day duty Chief Pilot; Person A whose attitude was vastly more sympathetic to the situation. Some 4-5 hrs after landing; I spoke to the fleet program manager; Person B; who indicated that the problem was likely an audio amplifier which had been mentioned in a fleet newsletter some 2 months prior. The issue did not meet the criteria of what had occurred on this occasion; in my opinion; and I therefore sent him the audio file that I had made to record the sounds while in flight. At no time during my interactions with company management did respondents express concern or consideration for the wellbeing of passengers or crew. Exceptions to this were Person B (who indicated in a text that the sounds much have hurt after sending him the audio file 'wow sounds painful') and Operations when I called to make sure that passenger needs were being met after landing. Subsequent to the event; the company placed us on a show time in ZZZZ at XA30 same day of incident for a 4 hour shift. This seemed to indicate a complete and utter; and completely unacceptable attitude towards the wellbeing of the crew. During the entire [problem] we feel that as a crew we performed to the best of our ability; to full conformance within SOP and in a manner that was both professional and optimal for safety considerations. I will not say the same for the company's part in the process.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.
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