as pilots, the donning of the oxygen mask is a vital part of our training...but there has been very little in the way of...OXYGEN NOT FLOWING...what do I do now?
certainly manipulating the toggle switches...but to have it fail and then get out the walk around bottle is alot to ask.
I do think the whole planeload was lucky that the plane was at FL290 and not higher.
While I know the everglades/valujet crash was due to the oxygen generators (and fuel...tires in cargo hold), few may remember that the lines to the oxygen regulator had been compromised even prior to flight.
I sure hope the brave QANTAS pilots had actually checked their oxygen masks before flight by placing them on their face and breathing...under pressure.