Where Are You Most Vulnerable If The Plane Suddenly Loses

Where Are You Most Vulnerable If The Plane Suddenly Loses Cabin Pressure

Imagine that you are on a flight from Arizona to California. About 20 minutes after takeoff, just as you are dozing off, a loud blast awakens you. You look around and suddenly see the sky through a gaping hole in the panel above the aisle. Fellow passengers are screaming, passing out, and knocking their heads against the seats in front of them. A flight attendant has suffered personal injury and is on the floor. In the midst of it all, the oxygen masks that are usually stored above the seats drop down. Fortunately, you are in your seat and can quickly use one, ensuring a steady supply of oxygen. Passengers in other locations on the plane, however, are much more vulnerable to the injurious effects of rapid decompression, explains an attorney.

In the event of rapid decompression, the restrooms are, perhaps, the most dangerous place on the plane. As of just a few months ago, airlines in the United States began removing the emergency oxygen masks in plane lavatories, in accordance with a mandate from the Federal Aviation Administration, FAA. The move came amid concerns that terrorists could use the lavatory oxygen to start fires or ignite bombs. While September 11th proved that such terrorist acts pose a tremendous risk to the safety of Americans in the sky, eliminating a source of emergency oxygen for passengers presents an altogether separate set of safety concerns.

When the cabin of a plane quickly loses pressure, passengers and crewmembers have just seconds to secure oxygen masks before falling unconscious. For example, if a plane cruising at 36,000 feet altitude suddenly lost cabin pressure, its occupants would be able to make decisions and act efficiently with insufficient oxygen to breath for between 30 and 60 seconds, according to a PIA Air Safety Publication by Mark Wolff. After approximately two minutes without oxygen, they would die.

Do passengers have 30 to 60 seconds to return to their seats from the lavatories? Navigating the narrow aisles of a plane can take a long time during normal in-flight circumstances; it would surely take longer during an emergency situation, with panicked passengers and flight attendants rushing to provide assistance. A hole in the aircraft fuselage could further complicate such a trip, as loose objects become projectiles and debris scatters everywhere.

Each year, about 40-50 incidents in which an aircraft experiences rapid decompression occur. The scenario described on the flight from Arizona to California actually happened a few weeks ago, explains an attorney. News coverage of the accident only indicated that a flight attendant sustained personal injury. However, if someone were in the lavatory during the rapid decent from 36,000 feet to 11,000 feet altitude, would he or she have survived? Such questions should have been answered before passengers were deprived of this vital source of emergency oxygen.

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