Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Other / Unknown
Aircraft Aircraft Damaged; General Maintenance Action
Human Factors; Aircraft
Flying a charter flight back to base; a little after takeoff we had an auto fail light come on. Ran the QRH and did everything that was required by the QRH. We felt nothing was wrong with the aircraft and proceeded on to destination. After we landed we were met by a mechanic and discussed what happened; our Air Carrier Maintenance notified us of what happened and found damage to the aft bulkhead. Looks like the locks broke and the pallets came out its locks.
Flew charter back to base with no cargo except 8 loading sheets in position 9. The bottom pallet was locked in position 9 with the top 7 pallets stacked on top tied with tie downs. After takeoff the pressure started climbing with the plane. The Auto Fail light came on. The outflow valve indicated closed but the cabin altitude continued to climb. After going manual as per the QRH; the valve still indicated closed and the cabin altitude was equal to the aircraft altitude. Leveled off at 10;000 feet and continued to destination. There were no other indications noted. After writing up the aircraft and talking to a mechanic; I started talking to dispatch to sign my next release. At that time I was directed back to look at the damage in the back of the plane. There was significant damage to the aft bulkhead and around the 2 aft exit doors. The pallets had broken out of the metal locks.
B737 flight crew experiences pressurization failure after takeoff on a ferry flight with eight empty pallets stacked on top of each other in the number nine position. The short flight is continued to destination at 10;000 feet. Post flight reveals that the pallets had broken lose and punctured the aft pressure bulkhead.