So, things we now know.
The incident was handled well by the crew (source - many professionals on this site)
Pen Hadow made some false statements which he appears to believe to be true, which MOL countered well. (Original BBC piece)
'Professionals' react very badly to Hadow's statements. s*** storm falls on Hadow and BBC - (much from this site, letters to newspapers etc)
Professionals are very angry, and sometimes quite abusive, towards passengers who don't pay attention to safety briefing. (source - this thread)
Many make direct link between Hadow's misunderstanding and 'not listening'. (no source)
Much bemusement from passengers that professionals believe that safety briefing is sufficient to prepare them for situation where they think they may die. (this thread)
BBC and several other sources write pieces about depressurisation (
BBC NEWS | UK | What to do when planes lose pressure, Learmount etc)
So, the slightly bizarre consequence of this is that many, many people now have a better understanding of depressurisation, oxygen masks, and how 'emergencies' are dealt with.
One thing we don't know:
Have the 'professionals' who seem to believe that the 3 minute safety briefing will prepare ALL passengers for ALL emergencies had that dangerous belief shaken in any way.
Watch the Air Dolomiti fire to see how real people behave if not directed well. They may be stupid, but more importantly they are in a situation for which they have no model of behaviour.
http://www.pprune.org/rumours-news/3...ug-2008-a.html
I went on a brilliant First Aid course for rugby.
The instructor said, "A child is on the floor, he doesn't seem to be breathing, what do you do?"
"Listen for breath"
"Good, but the wind is blowing, there's a crowd around all shouting, and you're hyperventilating because you think a child may be dying in front of you."
"Take his pulse"
"Good, but your hands are shaking because you think a child may be dying in front of you."
"Ah..."
I thought this was a brilliant demonstration of how our assumptions in the quiet of the training room will become useless in a real situation.
I'm confident that these issues are fully considered by the industry, but I think you do yourself no favours when you react so aggressively to passengers who don't fully understand.
Put it simply, in my opinion, if you believe that the safety announcement prepares passengers
fully for emergencies you are a fool.