Incident on QF706 ADL to CBR

[Vic]

As someone who has been on a depressurising Qantas 737 that divert to Melbourne, but with no masks deploying, I just wanted to make some comments on the idea that the average person would even know. During our event the plane just started to descend way too early, I looked at the guy next to me, he also noticed, and said looks like we're going to Melbourne. No one else noticed.

but for Joe Punter in 32B, it would be concerning at a minimum and terrifying at the other end.

There is no 32B on a Qantas 737.

Bring me my brown trousers.

Why? It's a non-event. Put on the mask that's there to help, relax enjoy the ride.

I used to work underground. If I took you and a bunch of others down to my work place, I reckon you'd be pooping yourself when the explosions went off nearby and you weren't ready for it, - its still very loud, and you can feel it and then smell the gas. Taking the school teachers down was the best bit. It wasn't just the girls who screamed.

Down there, once you'd changed underwear, you'd be wondering if you needed to put on your 'self rescuer' mask when you smelled the gas, scared about walking under all those big loose rocks and dodging 50 tonne trucks as they back up in the dark. All while the noise is akin to standing next to two jackhammers going full tilt. I wouldn't be telling you its all OK, because I'm not with you, and because I know there isn't a problem. OK, that bits not true - we keep underground visitors on a tight leash, but first timers still end up somewhere between worried to terrified. Please forgive those in their first time 'air incident' if they have similar reactions.

As someone who has worked underground for a number of years. I am astounded by your commentary about conditions. Underground is NOT something to be scared about. I was never scared underground.
You look to be an accident waiting to happen if you're taking visitors under unsecured ground or into areas with inadequate ventilation. Not wearing hearing protection! Certainly that would violate all safety procedures in the mines were I've worked.

 

[Quickstatus]

As someone who has been on a depressurising Qantas 737 that divert to Melbourne, but with no masks deploying, I just wanted to make some comments on the idea that the average person would even know. During our event the plane just started to descend way too early, I looked at the guy next to me, he also noticed, and said looks like we're going to Melbourne. No one else noticed.



There is no 32B on a Qantas 737.



Why? It's a non-event. Put on the mask that's there to help, relax enjoy the ride.



As someone who has worked underground for a number of years. I am astounded by your commentary about conditions. Underground is NOT something to be scared about. I was never scared underground.
You look to be an accident waiting to happen if you're taking visitors under unsecured ground or into areas with inadequate ventilation. Not wearing hearing protection! Certainly that would violate all safety procedures in the mines were I've worked.

Why should anyone notice?. There is nothing before O2 deployment that was out of the ordinary. The deployment of O2 masks changes things and is not a “non event”. The situation turned into an emergency and the pilots and cabin crew do not carry on as though it’s a non event - they undertake very specific and highly rehearsed tasks that are not undertaken in normal flight.

32B is like 100Z - just a way of saying any random seat on an aircraft - fits with the name Joe Punter. (Hopefully there isn’t a real Joe Punter)

Some people are able to think straight and be completely “chilled” in an emergency. Others are a blubbering mess.

Or heights. I have friends who are at home jumping out of an fully functional airplane. They say heights is nothing to be scared of. I don’t share that view

 

[Vic]

Why should anyone notice?. There is nothing before O2 deployment that was out of the ordinary. The deployment of O2 masks changes things and is not a “non event”. The situation has turned into an emergency and the pilots and cabin crew do not carry on as though it’s a non event - they undertake very specific and highly rehearsed tasks that are not undertaken in normal flight.

I must just be lucky that I can notice when an aircraft starts a landing descent, as in nose quickly points downwards, 30 minutes into a 2 hour flight. Oh and it turned away from the direction of the destination. I'm sure most with a basic level of situational awareness would notice.

 

[Quickstatus]

I must just be lucky that I can notice when an aircraft starts a landing descent, as in nose quickly points downwards, 30 minutes into a 2 hour flight. Oh and it turned away from the direction of the destination. I'm sure most with a basic level of situational awareness would notice.

Why should they? Look around. What are most passengers doing? And how would you know that you and the other bloke were the only 2 passengers who “knew” something was happening?. I’m sure you did not speak to everyone...

 

[Berlin]

Mrs Quckstatus fear of pulling on the O2 mask is that in the heat of the moment she would pull the hose off its connection point.

Precisely what I am thinking EVERY SINGLE TIME when the masks come up in the safety video.

 

[Vic]

Why should they? Look around. What are most passengers doing? And how would you know that you and the other bloke were the only 2 passengers who “knew” something was happening?. I’m sure you did not speak to everyone...

Why? As I said - Situational Awareness. Like I said I must just be lucky to not be blindly sitting in my own bubble.

I looked around the cabin and no one else reacted. Given the way most people cry about delayed flights, I would expect a reaction to a change in the aircraft that clearly shows we're no longer going to our planned destination.

 

[tdimdad]

The gaseous systems will give you ZERO oxygen if you don’t pull the mask. It will drop about another 30 cms after being pulled. It removes a pin from the overhead attachment, which can allow it to be put back in some cases. The force required iIn not great, but you will feel it release. The chemical systems will give oxygen as long as someone at that station has pulled their pin. Pulling it down will give you more hose, and make the reach better. If nobody has pulled, again, ZERO oxygen.

I find this comment interesting. You would wish that such a system would be fool-proof. I understand that from the mechanical / engineering viewpoint this "pull the pin" might be a convenient way to implement the device and provide a safeguard against other events but the allusions in this thread to passengers who don't do the extra pull defeat the chosen mechanism. Is this really the optimal way to implement such an important system which is used by potentially erratic or mentally frozen passengers? Though, I have to admit I have no alternate solution to suggest and this must have been debated in the aviation industry thousands of times.

 

[drron]

Why? As I said - Situational Awareness. Like I said I must just be lucky to not be blindly sitting in my own bubble.

I looked around the cabin and no one else reacted. Given the way most people cry about delayed flights, I would expect a reaction to a change in the aircraft that clearly shows we're no longer going to our planned destination.

Or there was severe turbulence ahead and changing course to avoid it.
And I have no problems with the fact that most others were ignorant of what you perceived.most expect a routine boring flight.We are all different.

 

[Quickstatus]

Again I ask why?. Why should a passenger of any commercial transportation have situational awareness in non emergency conditions?

And why should a change in direction/speed/attitude be an abnormal event. It may not be and is usually not abnormal.

Then as a passenger if you feel the aircraft turning, say to the left, did the aircraft actually turn to the left and by how much? There is a reason why pilots learn to trust their instruments and not their inner ear

 

[Vic]

Or there was severe turbulence ahead and changing course to avoid it.
And I have no problems with the fact that most others were ignorant of what you perceived.most expect a routine boring flight.We are all different.

Yeah, On a nice clear non cloudly day. severe turbulence. yep.
Routine boring flight??? That's my point the aircraft significantly and abruptly deviated from the expected routine boring flight.

To address those who CANNOT accept this, In the case I experienced it was an abnormal event.

 

[RooFlyer]

RooFlyer said: ↑
but for Joe Punter in 32B, it would be concerning at a minimum and terrifying at the other end.

There is no 32B on a Qantas 737.

You obviously spotted that "Joe Punter" wasn't a real name, but didn't make the connection that "32B" was also made up, for illustrative purposes? My comment wasn't aircraft specific, nor airline for that matter. Just like LtL's comment re "Bring me my brown trousers." didn't refer to an actual soiling event (as far as I know )

Underground is NOT something to be scared about.

You seem to have missed the entire point being made which was, some-one in an unusual situation but trained and used to it, will not be scared - like an underground worker, or aircrew in the situation being discussed.

As to the rest of your commentary re underground, rather than go OT here, I've address that in a new thread here:

mining - underground and open-cut

 

[RooFlyer]

Yeah, On a nice clear non cloudly day. severe turbulence. yep.

Ever head of Clear Air Turbulence?

 

[jb747]

Thats a lot of O2, breathing 100%

If you connect one of the coughpit masks to a 310 litre cabin bottle, you'll deplete the bottle in 15 minutes.

The coughpit oxygen system in the airliners I've flown has consisted of two of the main passenger sized bottles, plumbed into their own system feeding only the crew seats in the coughpit. Put another way...there were 13 bottles on the 747 for up to 400 passengers...two of exactly the same bottles were solely for the coughpit.

The A4G system used 100% all of the time, with no mixing capability. It was sourced from a bottle of Lox.

This is interesting and not something I’ve ever thought about having not lived in the military world.

Subjectively, does it feel like great strain is being put on your lungs?

Thankfully I never had to use pressure breathing in other than the decompression chamber. It was very uncomfortable, and hard work. If you were up at FL499 and lost the canopy, you'd probably do the breathing without noticing the difficulty...

 

[Ewing]

Mrs Quckstatus fear of pulling on the O2 mask is that in the heat of the moment she would pull the hose off its connection point.

Like one safety demo and the FA accidentally flung the mask into my lap.

Without skipping a beat she said: "if that happens, use another mask"

 

[panpan]

The crew should not manually release the masks unless they are necessary. Once the cabin exceeds the automatic release level, they should be manually selected as a backup to the automatic system. Releasing them early is a screw up. It does nothing for the passenger safety, and increases levels of anxiety.



It’s just as likely that the crew had never met before. Certainly you never fly with anyone ‘a lot’.

Interesting, thanks

 

[Quickstatus]

Precisely what I am thinking EVERY SINGLE TIME when the masks come up in the safety video.

The fear is impossible to logically explain away ( i suppose thats the definition of fear) even when I tell Mrs QS that on QF30 when there was a "bang", no one managed to pull off the O2 hose off its connection point. (365 passengers)

 

[jb747]

The fear is impossible to logically explain away ( i suppose thats the definition of fear) even when I tell Mrs QS that on QF30 when there was a "bang", no one managed to pull off the O2 hose off its connection point. (365 passengers)

No bang. A very loud (extremely) thud. Like a heavy timber door being slammed.

 

[OATEK]

No bang. A very loud (extremely) thud. Like a heavy timber door being slammed.

Was that the same for pax sitting close to where the bottle was?

 

[stm1sydney]

I wonder what percentage of pax put the mask only over their mouth, and not mouth and nose?

 

[Berlin]

I wonder what percentage of pax put the mask only over their mouth, and not mouth and nose?

Lots. I don’t recall which incident it was, but there was something recently where media made a point that most passengers only put it over the mouth.

Doesn’t surprise me in the slightest as most passengers keep their earplugs in and stare at their phones during the safety presentation. Especially if they are doing it in person like on many Qantas flights, I find that damn rude to begin with. I ALWAYS make a point to stop what I’m doing, take headphones off it I wear them and smile at the usually lovely cabin crew doing their safety thing. Actually- I always LOVED them doing the pointing towards the doors thing!