Narrative:

Climbing through FL240 to FL320; captain (pilot flying) and I (pilot not flying) heard a noise; and then we noticed our cabin losing pressure. As cabin altitude kept climbing; we requested to descend back down; we were only given descent to FL240 which we had already passed; captain stopped climb at FL250 and began the descent at that moment. Descending back down cabin altitude kept climbing rapidly; seconds later we asked ATC for lower they said they had to coordinate; by this time we had already donned our O2 masks and heard the 'cabin; cabin' aural warning; and we declared an emergency to descend to 10;000 ft immediately. We performed appropriate memory items; checklists; and descended to 10;000 ft MSL while still on the arrival. We then opted to descend to 8;000 ft to silence the 'cabin; cabin' warning; and once we noticed cabin altitude steady and in green numbers; we removed the masks; notified ATC that we were no longer in an emergency state; and we continued to destination. Dispatch was informed of the occurrence; and gave us fuel burn numbers at our lower altitude; and we had no other issues to arrive at our destination. Passengers were informed through the PA system of what had occurred; and flight continued normally arriving 7 minutes early. Upon post flight walk around; I discovered a rubber seal hanging from galley service door. No indications were available until we heard a sound in flight. Our pressurization dropped due to a seal that malfunctioned on the galley door in flight. Lesson learned is to continue to stay aware and never let complacency take over; know immediate action items well; refresh proper use of initial action and QRH continually; otherwise this incident may not have gone as smoothly as it did thanks to coordination between all crew members involved.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: EMB-145 flight crew experiences a loss of cabin pressure passing FL240 during climb and declares an emergency. Descent to 10;000 FT does not silence the cabin altitude warning and the descent is continued to 8;000 FT. The flight continues to destination where post flight inspection reveals a galley service door seal has failed.

Narrative: Climbing through FL240 to FL320; Captain (pilot flying) and I (pilot not flying) heard a noise; and then we noticed our cabin losing pressure. As cabin altitude kept climbing; we requested to descend back down; we were only given descent to FL240 which we had already passed; Captain stopped climb at FL250 and began the descent at that moment. Descending back down Cabin ALT kept climbing rapidly; seconds later we asked ATC for lower they said they had to coordinate; by this time we had already donned our O2 masks and heard the 'CABIN; CABIN' aural warning; and we declared an emergency to descend to 10;000 FT immediately. We performed appropriate memory items; checklists; and descended to 10;000 FT MSL while still on the arrival. We then opted to descend to 8;000 FT to silence the 'CABIN; CABIN' warning; and once we noticed Cabin altitude steady and in green numbers; we removed the masks; notified ATC that we were no longer in an emergency state; and we continued to destination. Dispatch was informed of the occurrence; and gave us fuel burn numbers at our lower altitude; and we had no other issues to arrive at our destination. Passengers were informed through the PA system of what had occurred; and flight continued normally arriving 7 minutes early. Upon post flight walk around; I discovered a rubber seal hanging from galley service door. No indications were available until we heard a sound in flight. Our pressurization dropped due to a seal that malfunctioned on the galley door in flight. Lesson learned is to continue to stay aware and never let complacency take over; know immediate action items well; refresh proper use of initial action and QRH continually; otherwise this incident may not have gone as smoothly as it did thanks to coordination between all crew members involved.

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.