Ce-560XL flight crew experienced a cabin altitude warning during climb at 15;000 ft. They declared a...

Narrative:

The aircraft that I was in command of had a MEL for the cabin door light which had been written up by me. I read the operational procedures of the MEL at the time it was written up (approximately 1.5 hrs before takeoff.) we took off as scheduled and flew initially an assigned heading of 090 degrees. We were given various step climbs and were eventually cleared to 16;000 ft. As we passed through approximately 15;000 ft the cabin attendant altitude annunciator came on with the master warning. Required memory items were completed and passenger was informed to keep their seat belts on and that we had to return to [the departure airport] due to pressurization problem. We asked ATC for a lower altitude and a heading and started our descent and turn. The flight went uneventful back to [the departure airport.] I was distracted and might have missed item number 2 on the operational procedures which could be the reason for the cabin attendant altitude annunciator. Obviously I should have been more focused on the operational procedures. Distraction and a possibility of fatigue that I didn't recognize could have played a factor as well.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: CE-560XL flight crew experienced a Cabin Altitude warning during climb at 15;000 FT. They declared an emergency and returned to their departure airport.

Narrative: The aircraft that I was in command of had a MEL for the cabin door light which had been written up by me. I read the operational procedures of the MEL at the time it was written up (approximately 1.5 hrs before takeoff.) We took off as scheduled and flew initially an assigned heading of 090 degrees. We were given various step climbs and were eventually cleared to 16;000 FT. As we passed through approximately 15;000 FT the CAB ALT annunciator came on with the Master Warning. Required memory items were completed and passenger was informed to keep their seat belts on and that we had to return to [the departure airport] due to pressurization problem. We asked ATC for a lower altitude and a heading and started our descent and turn. The flight went uneventful back to [the departure airport.] I was distracted and might have missed item number 2 on the operational procedures which could be the reason for the CAB ALT annunciator. Obviously I should have been more focused on the operational procedures. Distraction and a possibility of fatigue that I didn't recognize could have played a factor as well.

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	1096325
Time
Date	201306
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.ARTCC
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Citation Excel (C560XL)
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Climb
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Pressurization System
Person 1
Function	Pilot Not Flying Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Person 2
Function	Pilot Flying First Officer
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical

Ce-560XL flight crew experienced a cabin altitude warning during climb at 15;000 ft. They declared an emergency and returned to their departure airport.