B757 flight crew experiences a loss of cabin pressurization at FL380 and initiates an emergency desc...

Attributes
ACN	1143054
Time
Date	201401
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.ARTCC
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B757 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Cruise
Component
Aircraft Component	Pressurization Control System
Person 1
Function	First Officer Pilot Flying
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 172 Flight Crew Total 7058 Flight Crew Type 1513
Person 2
Function	Pilot Not Flying Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 80 Flight Crew Total 20000 Flight Crew Type 2400
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical

Narrative:

We just leveled off at FL380 in route; when an aural warning went off and an ecias message was on the ecias screen; 'cabin altitude' master warning. The captain and I completed our memory items; O2 masks - don and established communication. We evaluated the cabin pressure gauge and saw that the cabin was at 11;000 ft and climbing. We talked to ATC and requested lower. I started the descent. Next we evaluated where to go. With the destination weather 2 miles visibility and snow and having a meled thrust reverser and being 20 minutes from the departure airport; we decided to go there. The captain informed ATC of our return and declared an emergency. He also ran the checklists; talked to the flight attendants and passengers; and contacted operations. I continued descending the aircraft to a safe altitude in case we had a rapid decompression. The cabin never got above 14;000 ft and the passenger O2 masks never dropped. I do believe the highest the cabin got was 12;000 ft. Getting down to 11;000 ft we removed our masks. ATC handled our flight wonderfully and had us go direct to the outer marker and from that point forward the flight was routine and standard. I shot the visual approach and landed safely.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B757 flight crew experiences a loss of cabin pressurization at FL380 and initiates an emergency descent and return to departure airport.

Narrative: We just leveled off at FL380 in route; when an aural warning went off and an ECIAS message was on the ECIAS screen; 'CABIN ALTITUDE' Master warning. The Captain and I completed our memory items; O2 masks - Don and established communication. We evaluated the cabin pressure gauge and saw that the cabin was at 11;000 FT and climbing. We talked to ATC and requested lower. I started the descent. Next we evaluated where to go. With the destination weather 2 miles visibility and snow and having a MELed thrust reverser and being 20 minutes from the departure airport; we decided to go there. The Captain informed ATC of our return and declared an emergency. He also ran the checklists; talked to the flight attendants and passengers; and contacted operations. I continued descending the aircraft to a safe altitude in case we had a rapid decompression. The cabin never got above 14;000 FT and the passenger O2 masks never dropped. I do believe the highest the cabin got was 12;000 FT. Getting down to 11;000 FT we removed our masks. ATC handled our flight wonderfully and had us go direct to the outer marker and from that point forward the flight was routine and standard. I shot the visual approach and landed safely.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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.