Narrative:

During the climb the master warning system notified us about a fuselage doors warning. After identifying the warning and following the QRH we determined that the cargo door was not properly secured. The aircraft was maintaining pressure; but we could not visually verify that the door was secured per the QRH. We decided to contact operations and notify them. We also started to research the times and distances to ord; and our destination to determine which airport we could land at soonest. Being unfamiliar with the mid-west area; I knew of no other suitable airports and decided to concentrate on those two.we requested a descent to below 10;000 ft to enable us to depressurize the aircraft in accordance with the unpressurized flight checklist. That completed the QRH procedures. At this point we were approximately 35 minutes from ord and 30 minutes to our destination. Dispatch had sent us an amendment to our flight plan to divert towards ord at the same time we sent them a message that told them we were actually closer to our destination. Operations then sent us a message to continue to our destination in response to the new information. We landed without incident and; after parking the aircraft; I got out and observed that the cargo door handle was in the horizontal orientation; but not properly seated in its recess as required.after having this experience and seeing the results; I realize how important it is to know before running the QRH whether we will return to the departure airport or not. Part of my decision to continue on course while running the QRH; was to not limit our options; in case the QRH had a solution. I figured if I started circling near ord for 10 minutes while the QRH resolved the problem; we would have a fuel issue and not be able to continue to our destination anyway. Also; I underestimated the wind strength and the time it took to complete the checklist; and had estimated our position to remain within easy reach of ord.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: After diagnosing a cargo door warning light via the completion of the appropriate QRH procedure; a Q-400 flight crew determined they were as close to their airport of intended landing as to their departure airport and decided to continue to their planned destination.

Narrative: During the climb the Master Warning system notified us about a Fuselage Doors Warning. After identifying the warning and following the QRH we determined that the Cargo Door was not properly secured. The aircraft was maintaining pressure; but we could not visually verify that the door was secured per the QRH. We decided to contact Operations and notify them. We also started to research the times and distances to ORD; and our destination to determine which airport we could land at soonest. Being unfamiliar with the mid-west area; I knew of no other suitable airports and decided to concentrate on those two.We requested a descent to below 10;000 FT to enable us to depressurize the aircraft in accordance with the unpressurized flight checklist. That completed the QRH procedures. At this point we were approximately 35 minutes from ORD and 30 minutes to our destination. Dispatch had sent us an amendment to our flight plan to divert towards ORD at the same time we sent them a message that told them we were actually closer to our destination. Operations then sent us a message to continue to our destination in response to the new information. We landed without incident and; after parking the aircraft; I got out and observed that the cargo door handle was in the horizontal orientation; but not properly seated in its recess as required.After having this experience and seeing the results; I realize how important it is to know before running the QRH whether we will return to the departure airport or not. Part of my decision to continue on course while running the QRH; was to not limit our options; in case the QRH had a solution. I figured if I started circling near ORD for 10 minutes while the QRH resolved the problem; we would have a fuel issue and not be able to continue to our destination anyway. Also; I underestimated the wind strength and the time it took to complete the checklist; and had estimated our position to remain within easy reach of ORD.

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.