Post by corsair67 on Jan 29, 2006 13:27:17 GMT 12
From yesterday's The Australian. These little incidents seem to be occurring to Virgin Blue a little too often for my liking. Maybe their fleet has grown a little too fast, and the maintainence crews are having trouble keeping up with things? Virgin now have 50 B737-700/800 aircraft in service.
I would have thought that if an oxygen mask fell from the ceiling above your head then that it was a good indication that you should probably put the bloody thing on. Some people are incredibly stupid!
Virgin facing air safety review
Steve Creedy, Aviation writer
January 28, 2006.
AIR safety investigators are reviewing Virgin Blue's emergency procedures after some passengers failed to put on oxygen masks and there were communication problems during an emergency descent on a flight from Sydney to Melbourne.
An Australian Transport Safety Bureau interim report this week revealed cabin pressure on the November 9 flight fell to the equivalent of an altitude of 15,000ft (4570m), compared with the 8000ft level at which cabin pressure is normally set.
The report also revealed that some passengers ignored deployed oxygen masks and cabin crew did not hear a warning that the plane was about to undertake an emergency descent.
The ATSB said its investigation would include an analysis of the crew and passenger responses to the depressurisation.
"The Virgin investigation is ongoing and we're looking at the whole process," said ATSB deputy director Alan Stray.
"Crew response is a standard part of an investigation of any depressurisation incident."
The incident was one of two involving Virgin Blue within a month.
Nine people were taken to hospital on December 3 after a plane dropped from 36,000ft to 10,000ft on a flight from Townsville to Brisbane after an outer windscreen in the cockpit cracked. The passengers, complaining of earache, headache, nosebleeds and vomiting, were admitted to hospital but released the next day.
No one was injured in the November incident, which involved a Boeing 737-700 aircraft flying over NSW at 40,000ft.
A pilot suffering an upset stomach and discomfort in the ears noticed that air pressure in the cabin was dropping. The crew donned their oxygen masks and began an emergency descent.
"The pilot-in-charge attempted to inform the cabin crew of the emergency descent, but the announcement was not heard on the passenger address system," the report said.
The co-pilot manually deployed the passenger oxygen masks seconds before a cabin altitude warning horn indicated the pressure had reached the equivalent of 10,000ft.
The flight crew requested traffic control clearance for an emergency descent to 10,000ft and began to descend at rates of up to 6000ft each minute.
The crew reported that the cabin pressure dropped to the equivalent of an altitude of 15,000ft but stabilised as the aircraft descended to 20,000ft.
The US Federal Aviation Authority Civil Aeromedical Institute classifies any decompression as significant if the cabin pressure reaches the equivalent of 14,000ft. An investigation by Virgin found that two valves on the jet failed to operate correctly.
I would have thought that if an oxygen mask fell from the ceiling above your head then that it was a good indication that you should probably put the bloody thing on. Some people are incredibly stupid!
Virgin facing air safety review
Steve Creedy, Aviation writer
January 28, 2006.
AIR safety investigators are reviewing Virgin Blue's emergency procedures after some passengers failed to put on oxygen masks and there were communication problems during an emergency descent on a flight from Sydney to Melbourne.
An Australian Transport Safety Bureau interim report this week revealed cabin pressure on the November 9 flight fell to the equivalent of an altitude of 15,000ft (4570m), compared with the 8000ft level at which cabin pressure is normally set.
The report also revealed that some passengers ignored deployed oxygen masks and cabin crew did not hear a warning that the plane was about to undertake an emergency descent.
The ATSB said its investigation would include an analysis of the crew and passenger responses to the depressurisation.
"The Virgin investigation is ongoing and we're looking at the whole process," said ATSB deputy director Alan Stray.
"Crew response is a standard part of an investigation of any depressurisation incident."
The incident was one of two involving Virgin Blue within a month.
Nine people were taken to hospital on December 3 after a plane dropped from 36,000ft to 10,000ft on a flight from Townsville to Brisbane after an outer windscreen in the cockpit cracked. The passengers, complaining of earache, headache, nosebleeds and vomiting, were admitted to hospital but released the next day.
No one was injured in the November incident, which involved a Boeing 737-700 aircraft flying over NSW at 40,000ft.
A pilot suffering an upset stomach and discomfort in the ears noticed that air pressure in the cabin was dropping. The crew donned their oxygen masks and began an emergency descent.
"The pilot-in-charge attempted to inform the cabin crew of the emergency descent, but the announcement was not heard on the passenger address system," the report said.
The co-pilot manually deployed the passenger oxygen masks seconds before a cabin altitude warning horn indicated the pressure had reached the equivalent of 10,000ft.
The flight crew requested traffic control clearance for an emergency descent to 10,000ft and began to descend at rates of up to 6000ft each minute.
The crew reported that the cabin pressure dropped to the equivalent of an altitude of 15,000ft but stabilised as the aircraft descended to 20,000ft.
The US Federal Aviation Authority Civil Aeromedical Institute classifies any decompression as significant if the cabin pressure reaches the equivalent of 14,000ft. An investigation by Virgin found that two valves on the jet failed to operate correctly.