B737-700
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 138; Flight Crew Type 138
Situational Awareness
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Flight Crew Became Reoriented; Flight Crew Overcame Equipment Problem
Human Factors; Procedure
During the climb; we got an altitude warning horn at approximately 11;000 FT MSL. I was hand-flying the aircraft; so I smoothly leveled the aircraft off at 12;000 FT while my First Officer donned his oxygen mask. I notified ATC that we were going to stop our climb at 12;000 FT then I donned my oxygen mask. In the meantime; my First Officer realized that the engine bleeds were off and the APU bleed was turned on. He turned on the left engine bleed air; turned off the APU bleed air (the APU was off); and the cabin slowly began to descend. Once the cabin began to descend; we turned on the remaining engine bleed air. The cabin altitude descended below 10;000 FT within a minute; so we removed our oxygen masks and checked the QRH Cabin Altitude Warning Checklist. We then resumed a normal climb.
The new engine start procedures are still very uncomfortable to accomplish after numerous repetitions. Whether true or not; I feel pressure to rush engine starts and after engine start flows from several captains.
B737-700 flight crew reported getting the cabin altitude warning horn on climbout; at which point they realized the engine bleeds were off.