Separation of the layers in a corner of the emergency exit door on a 42-year-old Cessna 441 Conquest II led to the rapid depressurization of the airplane during a July 2020 charter flight in Western Australia, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) says.
The two pilots and six passengers donned oxygen masks and no one was injured in the incident, which ended with an emergency descent and safe landing at the destination – Browns Range Airport, 388 nm (719 km) east of Broome Airport, the departure point. Damage to the airplane was minor.
In its final report on the accident, the ATSB said the Skippers Aviation 441 took off from Broome around 0904 local time on July 22, 2020, and climbed, as planned, to Flight Level (FL) 270 (approximately 27,000 ft), arriving at that altitude around 0932. One minute later, before the pilots had configured the airplane for cruise flight, they heard a loud noise from the passenger cabin, followed by the illumination of the cabin …
