Narrative:

Aircraft 'X' was being brought in to replace aircraft 'Y' which was down for an engine change. Enroute; the crew flying aircraft 'X'; had a pallet jack break loose and damage the aft pressure bulkhead door. Maintenance was notified and we were briefed about the damage. The crew and I arrived at the airport and were told by maintenance that it would be a few hours for repairs. Maintenance received the engineering authorization for the repair and made the temporary repairs to the aircraft and installed the aft pressure bulkhead door from aircraft 'Y' onto aircraft 'X'. After repairs were completed; a mechanic refused to sign off the repairs; stating they didn't make the repairs and wouldn't sign them off. The mechanic then quit. Another mechanic came in and inspected the aircraft repairs for some time and signed the aircraft off. We loaded the aircraft and began to taxi out. While taxing out the captain received a call from the company telling us not to depart and that the aircraft needed another inspection and signoff from another mechanic. The other mechanic was brought in and that mechanic inspected the aircraft for about one hour and then signed it off for flight. We departed the airport without any problems. We completed the departure procedure with transition and continued the climb to FL290. Upon reaching FL290 the aircraft began to depressurize and the cabin altitude high alarm activated as the cabin was now above 10;000 feet and slowly climbing. We donned our oxygen masks and performed the appropriate procedures. The captain transferred control to me with instructions to start a rapid descent to FL220 and not to declare an emergency. I advised ATC we needed an immediate descent for a pressurization problem and ATC cleared us for lower. After reaching FL220 the cabin stabilized at an altitude of about 8;000 ft. We then climbed up to FL230 (proper altitude for direction of flight and approved by ATC) and the captain contacted the company (the cabin remained at 8;000 ft). The company indicated for us to continue to our destination. If the problem got worse; we were given a couple of preferred diversion airports. The company also recalculated our fuel burns for the new lower flight level and indicated we had enough fuel to reach destination. We also experienced some avionics problems enroute. I suggested a couple of times that we should divert; but was over ruled by the captain and the flight landed at destination without further incident. The captain wrote up the pressurization system prior to the next crew arriving. The flight then departed with another crew for two more revenue legs before it was taken offline and flown to our heavy maintenance base.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A First Officer reports damage to an aft pressure bulkhead door and floor plate of a B727 cargo freighter; caused by a hand operated type pallet jack that was not properly secured. Temporary repairs using an engineering order were not adequate resulting in a loss of cabin pressurization on the next flight; at FL290.

Narrative: Aircraft 'X' was being brought in to replace Aircraft 'Y' which was down for an engine change. Enroute; the crew flying Aircraft 'X'; had a pallet jack break loose and damage the aft pressure bulkhead door. Maintenance was notified and we were briefed about the damage. The crew and I arrived at the airport and were told by Maintenance that it would be a few hours for repairs. Maintenance received the engineering authorization for the repair and made the temporary repairs to the aircraft and installed the aft pressure bulkhead door from Aircraft 'Y' onto Aircraft 'X'. After repairs were completed; a Mechanic refused to sign off the repairs; stating they didn't make the repairs and wouldn't sign them off. The Mechanic then quit. Another Mechanic came in and inspected the aircraft repairs for some time and signed the aircraft off. We loaded the aircraft and began to taxi out. While taxing out the Captain received a call from the Company telling us not to depart and that the aircraft needed another inspection and signoff from another Mechanic. The other Mechanic was brought in and that Mechanic inspected the aircraft for about one hour and then signed it off for flight. We departed the airport without any problems. We completed the departure procedure with transition and continued the climb to FL290. Upon reaching FL290 the aircraft began to depressurize and the cabin altitude high alarm activated as the cabin was now above 10;000 feet and slowly climbing. We donned our oxygen masks and performed the appropriate procedures. The Captain transferred control to me with instructions to start a rapid descent to FL220 and not to declare an emergency. I advised ATC we needed an immediate descent for a pressurization problem and ATC cleared us for lower. After reaching FL220 the cabin stabilized at an altitude of about 8;000 FT. We then climbed up to FL230 (proper altitude for direction of flight and approved by ATC) and the Captain contacted the Company (the cabin remained at 8;000 FT). The Company indicated for us to continue to our destination. If the problem got worse; we were given a couple of preferred diversion airports. The Company also recalculated our fuel burns for the new lower flight level and indicated we had enough fuel to reach destination. We also experienced some avionics problems enroute. I suggested a couple of times that we should divert; but was over ruled by the Captain and the flight landed at destination without further incident. The Captain wrote up the pressurization system prior to the next crew arriving. The flight then departed with another crew for two more revenue legs before it was taken offline and flown to our heavy maintenance base.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.