Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical
Air Traffic Control Issued New Clearance; Flight Crew Took Evasive Action; General Declared Emergency
Aircraft
During cruise at 17;000 FT; the CABIN PRESS warning light came on. We initiated the emergency descent down to 10;000 FT; advising ATC of our descent and declaring an emergency (as we had to squawk 7700 per the checklist). We ran the CABIN PRESS Checklist; followed by the Manual Pressurization Checklist and Cabin Pressurization Fail Checklist due to the pressurization issue not being remedied with the checklists. Per the checklists; we were able to depressurize the cabin; allowing us to continue the flight but at a much lower altitude. Because of the new altitude; I contacted Dispatch during the flight to update our fuel numbers and see if we could continue to our original destination. After Dispatch confirmed we could continue the flight with excess fuel; we did an amended release to change the fuel numbers and alternate airport. The flight continued uninterrupted to the original destination with no issues.
DHC8-200 Captain reports a CABIN PRESS warning light during cruise at 17;000 FT and initiates an emergency descent to 10;000 FT. The crew is able to continue to destination unpressurized.