SQ A380 Emergency Landing in Baku.

[Max C]

G'day Phillip,

I've had crew notify me about a noisy door seal on occasion. All we can do is look at the pressurisation panel for abnormal indications. If there are none, then the decision to contact maintenance/divert/return rests with the Pilot In Command after completing any applicable checklists.

If it was a prior defect, then the crew may well have come to the conclusion that all was well, especially if the issue had been repaired prior

It's possible that the Cabin Crew decided not to pass on any passenger concerns to the flight deck, but all crew I fly with are briefed that they should always convey any concerns to the flightdeck, regardless of how pointless/silly/common they may seem.

[Robert S]

If you look around online, there seem to be a number of examples of crews using blankets to try to reduce noise levels from noisy door seals.

This one's from 4 years ago of the U3R door on a Singapore A380:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZ7CoGl9hTM

There's also an Emirates example floating around, which seems to have been largely ignored due to the fairly ridiculous reporting that went with it.

[Hugh Jarse]

Originally Posted by Philip Argy

But if a passenger expressly draws the crew's attention to a noisy leaking seal, surely even the moist laid back crew would report that to the cockpit, or check it themselves more assiduously?

Absolutely, Philip.
When I was a captain in a previous life, i would always insist that cabin crew draw such matters to my attention. I always encouraged an open line of communication on my flights. However, the level of 'openness' depends to a certain extent on the company culture. Both airlines I've worked for are quite positive in this area.

We don't know what really happened in this instance. It is customary for the cabin crew leader to communicate with the flight deck. We don't know which cabin crew member was advised of the noise and the subsequent line of communication. I suspect the flight deck WAS contacted, where they checked the pressurisation (probably appeared normal) and asked for regular updates from the cabin crew leader. At some stage after this, the seal obviously failed completely.

As a side note, the level of noise coming from the door doesn't necessarily reflect the level of leakage. On the few occasions I've had door seal leaks, the noise of the airflow over the outside of the door has been louder than the leak itself.

[Radi K]

I’m curious if the masks dropped because of a rapid decompression or because the MORA around the area was so high that they manually had to drop the masks?

I think the crew would have been keeping an eye on the pressurisation altitude after dep from LHR and it wouldn’t have gone up too quickly? Maybe someone with A380 knowledge might be able to elaborate.

[Hugh Jarse]

Radi, I don't know about the Bus, but in the Boeing, as part of your recall actions you make a decision as to:
a) if the cabin altitude is not controllable, and;
b) exceeds, or is expected to exceed 14000' - you manually deploy the masks.

I didn't realise the oxygen generators on the bus could supply O2 for over 2 hours

[Stuart Trevena]

Hi All,

Just out of interest, does anyone know the rego in question?
Was it an older A380 or a younger one?

Stuart

[Paul F]

9V-SKE, go to the Aviation Herald there is photos of the damaged door.

[Andrew M]

She's back in SIN now

Wonder how long she will stay there before resuming normal flights!

[Julian L]

Caught on arrival to SIN. Note the blue patch above door L3.

[Andrew M]

She's back flying again SIN-LHR-SIN and SIN-BKK !