Travelling can be a nerve-wracking experience, especially when it involves flying.
Despite the minimal risk of accidents – with rates declining to historic lows each year according to Boeing – some travellers still feel anxious.
To help alleviate these fears, an airline pilot has taken it upon himself to explain what to do in case of an emergency on a plane. In a video, he emphasises the importance of paying attention to the flight attendants’ safety instructions.
“Most people are familiar with the announcement that ‘in the event of an emergency and the oxygen masks come down, reach above and pull down the oxygen mask and put your own mask on before helping others’,” he begins.
He then highlights the significance of pulling down on the oxygen mask, a detail often overlooked by passengers who assume there’s an oxygen tank above each seat.
However, the reality is more complex, involving a chemical reaction that provides passengers with oxygen.
“The reality is oxygen bottles inside aircrafts, 99% of them are actually a solid chemical ration,” he explained. “I’m not a biochemical engineer or some chemist, but essentially it’s a sodium chlorate type of mixture where when you pull down on the oxygen mask, you release a firing pin that creates a small explosion that ignites the candle that burns, and the byproduct is oxygen.
“So above your seat is a much more complex mechanism of you pull down, you fire this off and then it starts burning to give you oxygen. It’s not just some bottle of oxygen sitting above you.”
He further detailed that passengers need to pull firmly on their oxygen masks to initiate the chemical reaction necessary for oxygen production.
“And since it’s just a burn, it doesn’t last very long, which you don’t necessarily need it for extended periods of time, because essentially if the aircraft were to decompress at a high altitude, there wouldn’t be enough oxygen concentration for you to remain conscious for very long. So that’s why it’s important for you to put your oxygen mask on in the event it comes down,” he explained
While it might sound scary, he reassured that in an emergency, passengers would only need the oxygen mask for a short while as the pilots would descend the aircraft to 10,000 feet, where breathable oxygen levels are adequate without assistance.
However, the pilot also highlighted a potential safety risk associated with keeping the mask on for an extended period, explaining: “The byproduct of this [method] would be the heat. So there are probably a lot of smoke, and so yeah, it’s a lot more complex than just pulling down, putting on oxygen, and breathing.”
Despite the pilot’s guidance, some people expressed concern in the comments about how hard they should pull on the mask. “Can you pull on it too hard? I’d be afraid of yanking the tube off in a moment of panic,” one person asked.
Another user responded: “The hose is folded and the activation pin is at the fold. When you pull hard enough the hose is now 3x longer than it was. You’re not pulling on the end of the hose, just the middle.”
A second person added: “Wait lol why does this feel like the most important part but we’re never told this.”