Heroic Air Crew Saves the Lives of 133 Stupid Passengers

Every time there is any sort of in-flight emergency, the passengers all panic and think they're going to die, according to every news report. While even-handed journalism seems to have disappeared from the media, and they seem to be publishing only the most sensational reports, I suspect that there are not many calm, reasonable passengers to interview. Here's what happened in the latest in-flight emergency.

For some reason, there was an uncontrolled failure of the pressurization. The oxygen masks automatically deployed, just as they are supposed to do, and as the passengers were all warned they would do in the pre-take-off security announcements given by every airline. Which hardly anyone listens to. The pilots then did exactly what they are supposed to do, namely descend to a low altitude, where the air is breathable and pressurization is not needed. Even ABC, which is not known for hyperbole, referred to this as "a plunge of nearly 30,000 feet." Sounds like the plane is falling, out of control, but in fact, only such a rapid descent could reduce the dangers inherent in flying at 33,000 feet without pressurization.

At high altitudes like that, the air pressure is not sufficient to force oxygen into the blood. Even breathing pure oxygen, the passengers would lose consciousness within minutes, and brain damage would begin. In "plunging" rapidly to a lower altitude, the pilots were doing the only thing they could to save the passengers' lives, while coping with the very same dangers themselves.

Some (many?) of the passengers complained that they received no instructions or warnings from the pilots or flight crew. There was an automatic, recorded announcement playing, telling them what they needed to do, but that wasn't good enough. What were the flight crew supposed to do? Leave their own oxygen masks to reassure the passengers that the "plunging" airplane was not in danger? What were the pilots supposed to do? Stop their emergency procedures and communications to talk to the passengers? Warn them about the pressurization failure before it happened?

Many passengers complained that their ears hurt, or even bled. As well they might. The cabin had just experienced a pressure drop equivalent to being zipped from sea level to the top of Mount Everest in a few seconds. No wonder their ears hurt. So did the ears of the pilots and cabin crew, who experienced the same pressure drop, but stuck to their stations and did their jobs. The headlines SHOULD HAVE read, "Heroic Air Crew Saves the Lives of 133 Stupid Passengers."

Just between us, in an emergency like that, I'd want the pilots to FLY THE DAMN PLANE and not worry about reassuring passengers too dumb to listen to recorded announcements.