ATSB flags Indonesia AirAsia over A320 pressurisation problem

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) issued a formal safety recommendation to Indonesia AirAsia, asking that it review its pre-flight safety briefing and safety information card. This follows a pressurisation incident that took place on 15 October 2017, involving one of the carrier’s Airbus A320s, which returned to Perth after take-off. The aircraft, registered PK-AXD, was carrying 146 passengers and six crew members on board, and was bound for Denpasar. As it was climbing through 25,000ft, the pilots noticed repeated fault messages from the aircraft pressurisation system. However, when the crew accessed the flight management system’s pressure page, the fault cleared. As the A320 continued its climb, the master caution activated for opening of the cabin pressure system safety valve. The flight crew, which reported feeling discomfort, took over control of the pressurisation system manually, and attempted to reduce the cabin pressure climb rate. The warning signal for high cabin altitude then flashed intermittently for about 10 minutes, during which the flight crew decided to request to make an emergency descent to 22,000 feet, citing pressurisation issues. They later amended it to 10,000 feet. As the aircraft made its descent, the cabin crew noticed that the cabin oxygen masks had not been deployed, and reported this to the flight crew, which then manually did so. The aircraft later reached its intended cruising altitude and proceeded to land at Perth. No injuries or damage to aircraft were recorded. Story has more.<br/>