General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: About time I weighed in... [View all]DemoTex
(25,397 posts)In fact, I had a near-disastrous slow decompression in a MD-80 at FL 350 (35,000 feet) in 2001. It was near-disastrous because the aircraft's CAWS (central aural warning system) failed, as did the system that automatically deploys the passenger oxygen masks above a certain cabin altitude (14,000? I can't remember). In other words, multiple simultaneous system failures (very, very rare and statistically improbable). But that particular aircraft had a history - it was a P.O.S.! In fact, the CAWS on that same aircraft had failed on me during the pre-flight ground checks in Philly two weeks before.
It was my first officer's leg to fly, but when we realized the problem I took over control of the aircraft for the emergency descent (high-dive, as we call it). In fact, this was the only emergency (or abnormal) situation in our QRM (quick reference manual) where the captain was to take control of the aircraft. However, you may be thinking of US Airways flight 1549 where my friend Sulley took over the controls of an Airbus A-320 from first officer Jeff Skiles. That was a non-QRM situation, but Sulley knew that Jeff was new on the "Bus" and on "high-minimums." That was a situation - too - where the captain was required to take control from the low-experience first officer.
I digress. Sorry. Anyway, we had a full boat that day (butt in every seat, with a jump-seating pilot from the training department (MD-80)). My first officer and I handled it a la textbook (the jump-seat training captain verified that!). It went something like this:
O2 masks on
Declare an emergency and start the "high dive"
F/O had to manually deploy the passenger O2 masks (I could hear the passengers screaming when the rubber jungle dropped from the overhead panels)
Lead flight attendant came up to make sure crew had on masks (what a GOOD idea!)
Leveled off at 10,000 feet rather quickly
Since we were nearer our destination (Pittsburgh - KPIT) than any other suitable airport, I elected to continue to KPIT. But I now had a daunting PR task as captain, the dreaded post-emergency PA announcement. Here it is, as best as I can remember:
"Ladies and Gentlemen, this is the captain. We experienced a loss of pressurization at our cruising altitude of 35,000 feet. I am sorry that I was not able to give you any more warning of the sequence that followed. However, we are at a safe altitude of 10,000 feet and your oxygen masks are no longer necessary. We are 15 minutes from Pittsburgh, and will be landing shortly. I am aware that the cabin oxygen system generates heat and the flight attendants have informed me that it is quite hot in the cabin. We have turned the A/C down quite low to accommodate the high cabin temperature. I am aware, too, that the oxygen generation system has produced some undesirable fumes. I am slowing the aircraft down to 210 knots, and the flight attendants will soon be coming around to show all passengers in window seats a hidden switch to actually lower the adjacent window to get some fresh air into the cabin. Before the flight attendants come around, please remove all hats and wigs. And please keep any children - or child-like adults - from "flying" their hands in the slipstream. Thank you for flying US today. We will be on the ground shortly."