Sitting on a plane before take-off can be tedious. It always seems to take painstakingly long for the flight crew to ensure everything is ready for take off. However, after the scare of this one flight I will never question them again — take as long as you need! A flight full of vacation-ready people endured a terrifying moment when the pilots failed to realize the cabin didn't pressurize before taking off.
Videos by Wide Open Country
The Cabin Didn't Pressurize Before Take Off...So What?
If you are like me, you had no idea what it was the flight crew was actually checking before take off. Let me explain this one thing pilots are responsible for checking before departure. They must ensure that the switches responsible for regulating air pressure in the cabin are turned on.
Without the pressurization system, oxygen levels in the aircraft could drop dangerously low as the plane reached higher altitudes. You know the safety talk they always give about the oxygen masks falling from the ceiling? Yeah, this is when this happens.
Yahoo News shared that an investigation was conducted after the aircraft activated a cabin altitude warning. The investigation revealed that the switch responsible for regulating air pressure inside of the plane had been switched off. They were switched off during maintenance work on the aircraft's air conditioning system. The switches were never flipped back on, a detail that was missed by the flight crew. This led to the pilot not realizing the cabin didn't pressurize before take off.
While this may seem like no big deal, just a simple flip of a switch, it could have had severe consequences. All 193 people on board "were exposed to the risk of hypoxia." Hypoxia is when oxygen levels drop too low and lead to side effects such as dizziness, confusion, fainting, and unconsciousness.
What Happened Next?
While the pilots did not realize the cabin didn't pressurize before take off, they did notice it once they were in the air. Upon realizing their error, the pilots quickly flipped the switch back on. The pilots on board thought that flipping the switch back on was sufficient enough of a solution. However, even after 43 minutes of the switch being on, the warning sign remained lit up.
After this time, the aircraft finally consulted with the Tui maintenance team at Manchester Airport and the decision was made to return to Manchester. The report filed on this incident suggested that the appropriate measure would have been to don oxygen masks after flipping the switch back on. The report stated that "Donning the oxygen masks as an immediate action would have given both pilots immediate protection from any hypoxia risk and allowed them to clarify the situation with the highest risk removed."
Luckily the plane successfully returned to Manchester and had no injuries to any of the passengers or crew.
