A crj-700 returned to the airport after takeoff because the aircraft was not pressurizing and found ...

Narrative:

We took off out after a very normal and uneventful start-up and taxi out. At all times all door indications showed green and closed. As we climbed through around 4;000 feet MSL the first officer and I noticed the aircraft not pressurizing normally. The cabin rate was climbing at the same rate as the aircraft. No delta pressure. We were assigned 10;000 feet; but leveled off at 6;000 feet. We ran the QRH and determined the aircraft was not pressurizing at all since the cabin altitude was stable at 6;000 feet. To test it we attempted a climb at 500 FPM to 8;000 feet. Our assumptions were confirmed when the cabin alt climbed at 500 FPM also. We descended back to 6;000 feet MSL. At that point we returned to the departure and taxied into the gate without any other abnormalities.we had no abnormal indications in the cockpit at any time other than the unusual cabin altitude. Once reaching the gate and deplaning the aircraft we found the cargo door not closed flush; but the handle was in the closed and locked position. We had field maintenance check all seals; edges and tracks for the cargo door. He then ran a pressure test to ensure that was the problem and it was confirmed. Better training of ground personnel (the bag handler that was responsible was very new) and better vigilance of ground personnel when checking all doors closed before pushback.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A CRJ-700 returned to the airport after takeoff because the aircraft was not pressurizing and found that a relatively new employee had not properly closed the cargo door; but no door warning was activated.

Narrative: We took off out after a very normal and uneventful start-up and taxi out. At all times all door indications showed green and closed. As we climbed through around 4;000 feet MSL the First Officer and I noticed the aircraft not pressurizing normally. The cabin rate was climbing at the same rate as the aircraft. No delta Pressure. We were assigned 10;000 feet; but leveled off at 6;000 feet. We ran the QRH and determined the aircraft was not pressurizing at all since the cabin altitude was stable at 6;000 feet. To test it we attempted a climb at 500 FPM to 8;000 feet. Our assumptions were confirmed when the cabin alt climbed at 500 FPM also. We descended back to 6;000 feet MSL. At that point we returned to the departure and taxied into the gate without any other abnormalities.We had no abnormal indications in the cockpit at any time other than the unusual cabin altitude. Once reaching the gate and deplaning the aircraft we found the cargo door not closed flush; but the handle was in the closed and locked position. We had field Maintenance check all seals; edges and tracks for the cargo door. He then ran a pressure test to ensure that was the problem and it was confirmed. Better training of ground personnel (the bag handler that was responsible was very new) and better vigilance of ground personnel when checking all doors closed before pushback.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1092394
Time
Date	201305
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Dawn
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Regional Jet 700 ER/LR (CRJ700)
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Takeoff Initial Climb Climb Parked
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Cargo Door
Person 1
Function	Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Ground Event / Encounter Other / Unknown

A crj-700 returned to the airport after takeoff because the aircraft was not pressurizing and found that a relatively new employee had not properly closed the cargo door; but no door warning was activated.