Air carrier pilot crew reported the equipment bay door opened after takeoff. The aircraft would not pressurize.
Synopsis
Air carrier pilot crew reported the equipment bay door opened after takeoff. The aircraft would not pressurize.
Narrative
After takeoff on Company flight XXX; we experienced depressurization due to the Equipment door becoming open. We noticed that it was abnormally loud. We both commented that it seemed like a door was somehow open. Passing through 5;000 ft. the Master Caution illuminated; as well as the Equipment Door light. We were speaking with ZZZ Departure and asked to level off at 10;000 ft. Once reaching 10;000 ft. the Cabin Altitude Warning sounded and illuminated. We requested a descent to 8;000 ft. We ran the QRH Checklist for Cabin Altitude Warning or Rapid Depressurization. Upon completing this checklist and reviewing the subsequent checklist and deferred items and considering our weight and performance conditions; we were past halfway to ZZZ1. We decided that the best course of action was to continue to ZZZ1 at 7;000 ft.; which would allow us to land well below Max Landing Weight. The Dispatch Release had us tankering fuel and originally scheduled to land with 33;300 pounds of fuel. We recalculated based on new cruise altitude of 7;000 ft. and a landing fuel of 32;500 pounds landing on ZZZ1 Runway XX with 9;800 feet available. We notified Dispatch via ACARS about the Equipment door open condition and our intent to continue on to ZZZ1 at a new cruise altitude of 7;000 ft. and to please notify ZZZ1 Operations and Maintenance. We landed in ZZZ1 safely and uneventfully. On the ground; once replaying and reviewing the situation in our debrief; we realized that there was another checklist that we also should have run; the Equipment Door Checklist (QRH). All of the items associated with the Equipment Door Checklist were covered in the Cabin Altitude Warning or Rapid Depressurization QRH Checklist with exception of the instruction to land at nearest suitable airport. We believe that by the time we completed our checklists and performance calculations that we were already more than halfway to ZZZ1 and determined that it would have been the nearest suitable airport at that time.Location: On climb out from ZZZ Runway XY.Cause: Depressurization due to Equipment door open in flight.Suggestion: Crew needs to be more vigilant about verifying that all checklists are completed in regards to all conditions and annunciations.
Second reporter narrative
Shortly after takeoff we noticed that it was abnormally noisy and commented that it sounded like a door was open; although there were no such indications. Passing through about 5;000 ft. the Master Caution illuminated; as well as the Equipment Door light. We were speaking with ZZZ Departure and asked to level off at 10;000 ft. Once reaching 10;000 ft. the Cabin Altitude Warning sounded; and we subsequently requested a descent to 8;000 ft. We then ran the Cabin Altitude Warning or Rapid Depressurization Checklists. Upon completing this checklist and reviewing the subsequent checklist and deferred items; and considering our weight and performance conditions; we were roughly halfway to ZZZ1 in both distance and time. We determined that the nearest suitable airfield would be to continue to ZZZ1 at 7;000 ft.; which would allow us to land sooner and on a longer runway. The Dispatch Release had us tankering fuel and scheduled to land with 33;000 pounds of fuel favoring the longer runway at ZZZ1. We landed in ZZZ1 safely and uneventfully. On the ground; once replaying and reviewing the situation in our debrief; we realized that there was another checklist that we also should have run; the Equipment Door Checklist (QRH). All of the items associated with the Equipment Door Checklist were covered in the Cabin Altitude Warning or Rapid Depressurization Checklist; with exception of the instruction to land at nearest suitable airport. We believe that by the time we completed our checklists and performance calculations that we were already more than halfway to ZZZ1 and determined that it would have been the nearest suitable airport at that time. Location: 50 miles East of ZZZ.Cause: Aircraft failure to pressurize due to equipment door opening in flight.Solution: Leveling off before 10;000 ft. would have helped by not inducing the cabin altitude warning horn. Running the Equipment Door Checklist would certainly have been preferable. Although; upon completion of that checklist I believe it's likely that ZZZ1 would have been the most suitable airfield to land at.
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Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.