When I use the term ordinary, I refer to the fact that loss of cabin pressure is not as uncommon as you might imagine. BMI had a cracked windscreen last week which resulted in a rapid decent but that didn't make the press.
A study of the statistics would show that this is not such a rare event.
I accept that the Helios accident was a tragic mistake on the part of the crew but that is not the normal outcome in spite of many efforts by the press to suggest that it is a narrow escape from death whenever it occurs. It is not.
The idiot who spoke knowingly of the lack of Oxygen, when he should have been aware that had there been no Oxygen supplied he would not be standing in front of a camera recounting his 'near-death experience', served only to reinforce the lack of interest shown by him and his fellow pasengers to the briefing given for their benefit by the cabin crew.
'No preliminary indications from the cockpit.'
'No O2 was delivered to the masks.'
'Maybe the pilot deemed it inappropriate to supply O2.'
'We dropped almost instantly from 40.000' to 8.000.'
'80% of the pax knew they were going to die.'
'There were no cabin crew walking up and down the aisle giving advice and reassurance.'
'There was no communication between the crew and the flight attendants.'
Had he taken the time to ask, he would not come accros as such an idiot.
As to Mickey Mouse back up systems, what do you suggest? Individual 1-hour O2 bottles stowed under every seat? The system evidently works or there would not have been 177 people walking off the aircraft after it landed in Limoges. As for the 16 who went to hospital, I hazard a guess that before they arrived in the busy ER or Casualty room, the discomfort had gone.
There was a passenger on board who flies for RYR but they never quoted her experience, probably because she saw it as handled well by the crew and without too much distress or drama. But that would not make good copy so was discarded.
Intrepid flight attendants don't have the same cachet as intrepid explorers.