The Saab 340 flight crew noted the broken door seal seat during a preflight inspection but incorrectly believed that it was a cosmetic problem reported by another crew the previous day. During climb-out after a takeoff from Canberra Airport, however, the cabin altitude was higher than normal; the crew descended and kept the airplane below 10,000 ft for the flight to Sydney, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) said.
A post-flight inspection found that two sections of the door seal seat had broken, leaving the aircraft pressurization system unable to maintain normal cabin altitude during the March 25 flight.
None of the three crewmembers and 32 passengers was injured, and the Link Airways Saab was not damaged in the incident flight.
In its final report, the ATSB said the first crew, after a telephone conversation with maintenance personnel, “inappropriately applied the company’s non-safety of flight defect deferral process”; as a result, the air…
