RYR depressurisation
I have just listened to O'Loire being rubbished on the BBC's "Today" because his crew reacted in the correct way to the emergency depressurisation. How did Ed Stourton think the Cabin Crew were going to talk to passengers when they are trained to save their own lives by grabbing the nearest [passenger] oxygen mask? There is no point in the pilots trying to communicate with the pax with their masks on as those of us who have used them know that they would not be understood.
What is obvious is that if the pax had listened to/watched the safety briefing, they might have known what to do. I travel around Europe a lot on a variety of airlines, and only one, easyJet, chastises people for not paying attention to the safety briefing. We have all seen it - the regular traveller makes his point by deliberately reading his newspaper whilst the foreigner does not know what is going on. To give them their due, Ryanair have a clear Irish voice reading the English version, which is usually followed by the briefing in the language of the destination.
This has been an incident waiting to happen for some time - on none of the safety briefings I listen to, including those from the "World's Finest" is it stressed that one must 'tug' the oxygen tube to start the chemical generators. "Pull the mask towards you" is simply not enoough.