A B737-300 lost cabin pressurization at FL340. An emergency was declared after donning oxygen masks. The flight was quickly cleared to 10000 feet and continued the short distance to the destination airport.
Synopsis
A B737-300 lost cabin pressurization at FL340. An emergency was declared after donning oxygen masks. The flight was quickly cleared to 10000 feet and continued the short distance to the destination airport.
Narrative
The Cabin Altitude Warning horn sounded at FL340. I looked up at the cabin altitude indicator and it was climbing about 1500 fpm. I instructed the First Officer to don oxygen mask and established crew communication. We then accomplished the emergency check list and the QRH. We declared an emergency and requested an immediate descent and we were cleared to FL240 initially and then 10;000'. As soon as the emergency descent was initiated by me; I directed the First Officer to advise the Flight Attendant's of an emergency descent and to have passengers go on oxygen; they reported that masks had already dropped and all passengers were donning oxygen masks. At 10;000' I called Flight Attendant's to check on passengers; they reported that all were fine. Then I gave the instruction for them to have passengers remove their masks. I also made an announcement to the passengers to explain what had happened. Once handed over to approach control; I told them that we had the situation under control but requested and expeditious handling to the airport. ATC did an excellent job handling our flight. After passengers deplaned; I debriefed the entire flight crew and we were all in agreement that it was handled in a very professional way.
Second reporter narrative
Approximately 20 minutes into cruise flight at FL340 we received a Cabin Altitude Warning horn. I; as the PNF; looked up and noticed the pressurization gauges were indicating a continuous loss of pressure and the cabin altitude climbing. The Captain and I immediately put on the oxygen masks and established communication. Once communication was established; I informed ATC that we had a loss of cabin pressure and would need an immediate decent to 10;000 ft. ATC was quick to give us the decent. While in the decent the Captain I completed the QRH immediate action memory items for a loss of cabin pressure. After the checklists were complete I called the flight attendants and notified them of the situation and to make sure the passengers were seated;(after talking with the flight attendants upon arrival they stated that the passenger oxygen masks dropped no later that ten seconds after I notified the flight attendants of the situation). We continued the decent with no interruption down to 10;000 feet. As we got closer to 10;000 the cabin began to stabilize; the aircraft seemed fine other than the issue at hand. ATC asked if we needed further assistance and we declined because the aircraft was under control and we were only about ten minutes from the destination airport. We were given direct routing and made a safe uneventful landing.
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Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.