Mid-air panic as plane plunges 26,000 feet

Chris Blunt wrote:

On Wed, 27 Aug 2008 11:37:01 -0400, Kurt Ullman
wrote:


In article ,
Pietro wrote:


mrtravel wrote in
om:


"Plunged" makes it sound like the plane was on its way to crashing.

"Falling out of the sky" makes it sound more sensational.


And was probably closer to what the passengers felt like in real time
without the benefit of knowing the pilots did it on purpose.. or sitting
at home on a computer.


I heard one of the passengers talking about his experience in a radio
interview this morning. His main complaint was that no announcement
was made, and no information was provided by the cabin crew on what
was going on until after the plane had landed. Also, although the
oxygen masks had dropped, no flow of oxygen was available through the
masks. As far as the passengers were concerned, they thought they were
all about to die.


Maybe he assumed there was no flow because the bag didn't inflate.
i don't believe the masks all came down and none of them had oxygen.

Chris Blunt writes:

I heard one of the passengers talking about his experience in a radio
interview this morning. His main complaint was that no announcement
was made, and no information was provided by the cabin crew on what
was going on until after the plane had landed.

Perhaps they were busy. Aviate, navigate, communicate!

Also, although the oxygen masks had dropped, no flow of oxygen was
available through the masks.

How did the passengers establish that, especially since any of them without
oxygen would be unconscious and unable to notice the problem?

In response, Michael O'Leary said that all crew members are required
by law to wear oxygen masks during such an emergency, and would
therefore not have been able to make any announcements on the PA
system.

The pilots have microphones in their masks. But, as I said, they were
probably busy.

On Aug 27, 4:48*pm, Chris Blunt wrote:
On Wed, 27 Aug 2008 11:37:01 -0400, Kurt Ullman
wrote:
[snip]
*And was probably closer to what the passengers felt like in real time
without the benefit of knowing the pilots did it on purpose.. or sitting
at home on a computer.

I heard one of the passengers talking about his experience in a radio
interview this morning. His main complaint was that no announcement
was made, and no information was provided by the cabin crew on what
was going on until after the plane had landed. Also, although the
oxygen masks had dropped, no flow of oxygen was available through the
masks.

I've been at 22,000 feet, unpressurized, utilizing oxygen. You
feel like
you're suffocating, ... very slowly. You breath in but it doesn't
feel like
you're getting any air.

As far as the passengers were concerned, they thought they were
all about to die.

In response, Michael O'Leary said that all crew members are required
by law to wear oxygen masks during such an emergency, and would
therefore not have been able to make any announcements on the PA
system.

Chris