SkyUp B738 near Warsaw on Jan 3rd 2024, loss of cabin pressure

Last Update: February 5, 2024 / 18:48:48 GMT/Zulu time

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Incident Facts

Date of incident
Jan 3, 2023

Classification
Incident

Airline
SkyUp

Destination
Hurghada, Egypt

Aircraft Registration
UR-SQP

Aircraft Type
Boeing 737-800

ICAO Type Designator
B738

A SkyUp Boeing 737-800 on behalf of FlyEgypt, registration UR-SQP performing charter flight FT-8901 from Tallinn (Estonia) to Hurghada (Egypt) with 186 passengers and 7 crew, was enroute at FL360 about 220nm northnortheast of Warsaw (Poland) in Lithuanian Airspace when the crew declared Mayday reporting the loss of cabin pressure. The passenger oxygen masks were released. The aircraft descended to FL140, about 25 minutes later climbed to FL160 and diverted to Warsaw. The crew reported there were no medical issues on board and no assistance was needed for landing, the crew requested to enter a hold. The aircraft landed safely on Warsaw's runway 11 about 80 minutes after leaving FL360.

A replacement Boeing 737-800 registration UR-SQB resumed the flight after about 15 hours and reached Hurghada with a delay of about 16 hours.

The occurrence aircraft was still on the ground in Warsaw about 19 hours after landing.

Polands PKBWL delegated the investigation to Ukraine's NBAAI, who rated the occurrence a serious incident and opened an investigation. The NBAAI reported the aircraft was at FL360 when a depressurization occurred, the passenger oxygen masks were automatically released. The crew performed an emergency descent to FL140 and subsequently landed in Warsaw. There were no injuries.

On Feb 5th 2024 Ukraine's NBAAI released their preliminary report summarizing the sequence of events:

During climb and crossing the FL335, a warning for automatic pressure control system failure was triggered. The crew performed an emergency checklist and switched to manual control of the pressure control system. After reaching FL 360, the pressure control system was recovered in manual mode, however it was not functioning stable. The crew requested Riga FIR dispatcher for the permission to descend to FL 320. To coordinate the descend permission, Riga FIR dispatcher transferred the crew to the frequency of the Vilnius FIR sector. At the same time, the warning for exceeding altitude of 10,000 feet was triggered. The crew performed an emergency checklist, filed a distress signal, and reported on emergency descent to FL140. Due to the loss of pressure, the oxygen masks were automatically activated in cabin. During descend, the crew managed to recover control of the pressure system in manual mode and reduce the altitude in the cockpit to less than 10,000 feet. PIC decided to divert to the alternate aerodrome Warsaw (Poland). After burning off fuel at the holding area, in order to reduce maximum landing mass, the crew made a safe landing at the Warsaw airfield. As a result of the serious incident, no one was injured.
Incident Facts

Date of incident
Jan 3, 2023

Classification
Incident

Airline
SkyUp

Destination
Hurghada, Egypt

Aircraft Registration
UR-SQP

Aircraft Type
Boeing 737-800

ICAO Type Designator
B738

This article is published under license from Avherald.com. © of text by Avherald.com.
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