The Guardian reports on a Ryanair emergency landing which put 16 in hospital in Limoges.
Most people, I think, while scared witless, would probably expect that every so often this sort of thing “just happens”. What is markedly less reassuring, somehow (though I can’t quite put my finger on why) is that few of the oxygen masks were apparently working.
Pen Hadow, the Arctic explorer, was on the flight. According to him (and the Grauniad):
“The next thing the oxygen masks were dropping. My highest priority was to get a mask on to my son who was sitting next to me in a bemused and frightened state. We were descending for about five minutes from what I assume was 30,000 or 40,000ft to 8,000ft. As we landed we saw fire engines every quarter of a mile down the runway.”
Hadow…said a number of oxygen masks inside the cabin failed to work properly. “Mine wasn’t filling up with oxygen and neither was my son’s,” he said. “He was hyperventilating.”…
“From where I was sitting I could see about 20 masks and only a few of them were inflating,” Hadow said. “It was extremely variable as to who got oxygen in their masks, and the cabin crew didn’t seem to know what to do.”
Hadow is probably not the sort to flap (sorry) in an emergency, and his account rings true. Can’t see why he should make it up, either.
One rather hopes that Ryanair will check ALL their bits and pieces. On any view, that is the sort of thing that insurers should be concerned about. If it’s true, it tends to give an impression of slipshodness that is likely to leave passengers–and insurers–a little nervous, especially coming on the heels of the Madrid tragedy.
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