A pilot has explained important thing to do incase of an on-flight emergency (stock image) (Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)
Travelling can be nervewracking. And for some, the nerves get even worse if the involes getting on a plane.
The risk of something happening on a is minimal, with accident rates continuing to decline to historic lows each year, according to .
To help travellers feel more prepared for their travels, one airline pilot decided to explain what to do in case an emergency does occur on a plane. Showing a of a girl sharing how she made sure to listen to the flight attendants’ safety instruction to ‘not hurt their feelings’, a pilot shared why it’s important to listen and take to heart what the flight attendants are saying.
“Majority of people are familiar when flight attendants make the announcement saying ‘in the event of an emergency and the oxygen masks come down, reach above and pull down the oxygen masks and put your oxygen mask on before helping others,” he began.
“And I think the most important part of the announcement is the pull down on the oxygen mask part,” he said, before explaining how most people believe each seat has an oxygen tank above it that will provide them with their oxygen in case they need to use the mask.
: [WARNING]
: [PLANES] [FLYING] [PACKING]
However, the truth is a bit more complicated, as there’s 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 said. “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.”
Because of this reaction, he explained that passengers needs to make sure to actually pull on their oxygen masks before putting them on, in order to get the chemical reaction started.
“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 said.
While this might sound scary, he clarified that passengers would only need to wear it for a couple of minutes until the pilots have managed to decend the aircraft to 10,000 feet, where there would be enough oxygen to breath without the help from the masks.
However, there would also be a safety risk with keeping the mask needed for a longer time, explaining: ” The byproduct of this [merthod] 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 help, people took to the comments to express worry as they weren’t sure how hard to pull.
“Can you pull on it too hard? I’d be afraid of yanking the tube off in a moment of panic,” one person asked, to which another user replied: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. Your not pulling on the end of the hose, just the middle.”
A second person said: “Wait lol why does this feel like the most important part but we’re never told this.”