Narrative:

At FL220; about when we were to start our normal descent; we received a passenger dr out hndl message. Pressurization was normal and we suspected an indication error. We complied with the QRH; and the QRH directed us to pull the outer handle on the passenger door. I did not feel that this was a good idea; but I had no reason to disregard the QRH procedure. Both the pilot flying and I read and re-read the procedure to make sure we were understanding it correctly before we went [ahead] with it. We contacted the flight attendant and determined that the door was intact and no unusual events were happening; and directed her to pull the outer handle and then re-secure it. At this point the passenger dr out hndl message was replaced with the passenger door warning message. We then complied with the QRH procedure for that; which directed us to descend to 10;000 ft amongst other things. It was convenient that at that point ATC was wanting us to start down anyway. The QRH directed us to land at the nearest suitable airport. We were starting the descent approximately 70 NM from ZZZ and the only other suitable airport was ZZZ1 which was 40 NM away. I determined that ZZZ was the nearest suitable considering the descent involved. We landed without incident. It seems to me that by following the QRH we made a manageable situation potentially worse.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: CRJ200 Captain reports PAX DR HNDL OUT CAS message at FL220. The QRH directs to pull the outer handle on the passenger door. When this procedure is attempted by the Flight Attendant a PASSENGER DOOR warning appears; which requires a descent to 10;000 FT and immediate landing.

Narrative: AT FL220; about when we were to start our normal descent; we received a PAX DR OUT HNDL message. Pressurization was normal and we suspected an indication error. We complied with the QRH; and the QRH directed us to pull the outer handle on the passenger door. I did not feel that this was a good idea; but I had no reason to disregard the QRH procedure. Both the pilot flying and I read and re-read the procedure to make sure we were understanding it correctly before we went [ahead] with it. We contacted the Flight Attendant and determined that the door was intact and no unusual events were happening; and directed her to pull the outer handle and then re-secure it. At this point the PAX DR OUT HNDL message was replaced with the PASSENGER DOOR warning message. We then complied with the QRH procedure for that; which directed us to descend to 10;000 FT amongst other things. It was convenient that at that point ATC was wanting us to start down anyway. The QRH directed us to land at the nearest suitable airport. We were starting the descent approximately 70 NM from ZZZ and the only other suitable airport was ZZZ1 which was 40 NM away. I determined that ZZZ was the nearest suitable considering the descent involved. We landed without incident. It seems to me that by following the QRH we made a manageable situation potentially worse.

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.