View Full Version : Porter Airline Diverts due to Smoke in Flight Deck
Mudman
21st Oct 2015, 17:14
From CBC News
Porter Airlines flight to St. John's makes emergency landing in Sydney (http://www.cbc.ca/1.3278571)
A passenger on a recent flight to St. John's is urging Transportation Canada to explore installing oxygen masks on more planes after a Porter crew was forced to make an emergency landing earlier this week.
Don McDonald of Paradise, N.L., was on a flight from Halifax Monday night when, about 30 minutes after takeoff, the cabin of the plane began to fill with smoke.....
More (http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/oxygen-masks-porter-halifax-1.3281133)
Normal pax oxygen masks do not protect the passengers from inhaling smoke as they do not seal around the nose and mouth. Another consideration for not deploying them even if fitted for smoke/fire is that it would introduce considerable amounts of oxygen into the cabin which might make any fire much worse.
ex-EGLL
23rd Oct 2015, 02:45
Nice to see no hand baggage for a change.
ironbutt57
25th Oct 2015, 02:59
normal pax oxygen masks are not effective in smoke, as they are designed with small holes around the mask to dilute the oxygen with cabin air
sarabande
25th Oct 2015, 08:14
errr...umm, but what happens at reduced cabin pressure, or when the cabin is full of toxic smoke ?
The holes - if indeed they are universally present - must serve some other function.
Color air
25th Oct 2015, 13:01
The hole in the O2 mask are made because of expiration.The mask have no expiration valve in there construction. The CO2 have to come out someway.
lomapaseo
25th Oct 2015, 13:10
I thought the holes in the O2 masks were there for inhaling enough AIR + oxygen to fill your lungs, else the mask would just collapse with such a small flow of oxygen.
At any rate as others have said they won't protect you for longish periods of time from heavy smoke. For that you need to bring your own smoke hood in your carry-on
Color air
25th Oct 2015, 19:51
The O2 masks are there mainly for hypoxia in case of decompression , but can also be used in case of smoke in the cabin.
I do not know the O2 flow ( liter pr min) in the masks. It is important to know that. In an a emergency a stressful pax will hyperventilate and may need as much as 30- 40 L pr min. Normally we need only 12-15 l pr min when in rest.
The masks are designed to handel these situations. The hole in the masks are designed for 1. Expiration
2 Supply of air from the cabin in case of to low O2 flow.
wiggy
25th Oct 2015, 20:57
The O2 masks are there mainly for hypoxia in case of decompression , but can also be used in case of smoke in the cabin.
Staying the obvious and emphasising what Fly3 posted: If you are going to start deploying the drop downs - which means pressurising the oxygen ring main or potentially activating chemical generators, (or for that matter using portable oxygen) you'd better be very very very certain you are not dealing with a fire......
Certainly our SEP manuals/ QRHs have very clear warnings about the hazards involved in using oxygen in smoke/fire drills.