Originally Posted by
Dominator2
If the front end put on their masks and declared an Emergency then why was that not carried out in the cabin. I would rather breath Oxygen for ten minutes as a precaution than be killed by some poisonous particles in the cabin air conditioning.
I assume you're not a pilot so i'll explain it for you. If you are (god help us), perhaps you'd like to re-read the smoke checklists as those on the Airbus or the Boeing don't reccomend putting the passenger oxygen masks down for very good reasons.
The flight crew MUST be able to breathe clearly and for that they have positive pressure full face masks (looks like a firemans breathing aparatus or scuba if you're curious) as if they succumb to smoke, everyone dies. In the cabin, positive pressure masks are not practical, so they have a chemical oxygen generator. The chemical generator generates an incredible amount of heat and of course, oxygen (see ValuJet Flight 592 for details), and what fuels fires? If they generate more heat and more oxygen, they could easily worsen the situation - which is why it's not recommended. They are not pressurised masks, just supplementary oxygen that doesn't stop the user breathing in the external ambient smoke/fumes anyway.
In this emergency, the pilots FIRST responosibility is to get the aircraft on the ground as quickly as possible. The quicker they are on the ground, the better chance everyone has of surviving.
I am assuming that the whole crew has been grounded pending a full investigation by BA and if need be by the CAA?
Clearly you're not a pilot, so perhaps with your ignorance and hyperbole, you shouldn't be so harsh: "CREW MUST BE GROUNDED FOR 2 YEARS UNTIL THE AAIB RELEASE THEIR REPORT" when actually, they did their job effectively. They landed the plane as expeditiously as possible and evacuated on the runway leading to 3 people taken to hospital for minor injuries/precautions. If you don't understand the situation, then why defame people with a clear lack of knowledge. I'm sure the crew will be reading this thread and should be commended, not shouted at by the aeronautical equivalent of a quack!