Photo from Southwest Flight Shows Passengers Incorrectly Wearing Oxygen Masks
Numerous passengers on Southwest Flight 1380 wore their oxygen masks incorrectly after the plane had an engine failure, a photograph taken on the flight revealed.
As noted by self-proclaimed travel expert and former flight attendant Bobby Laurie, passengers should cover both their nose and mouth with the oxygen masks in the event of an emergency. In a photo posted to Facebook by a passenger on the flight, passengers can be seen only covering their mouths with the masks.
“PEOPLE: Listen to your flight attendants! ALMOST EVERYONE in this photo from @SouthwestAir #SWA1380 today is wearing their mask WRONG. Put down the phone, stop with the selfies.. and LISTEN. **Cover your NOSE & MOUTH,” Laurie tweeted.
PEOPLE: Listen to your flight attendants! ALMOST EVERYONE in this photo from @SouthwestAir #SWA1380 today is wearing their mask WRONG. Put down the phone, stop with the selfies.. and LISTEN. **Cover your NOSE & MOUTH. #crewlife #psa #listen #travel #news #wn1380 pic.twitter.com/4b14lZulGm
— Bobby Laurie (@BobbyLaurie) April 17, 2018
When some Twitter users pushed back, saying it didn’t matter what the passengers did since they survived anyway, Laurie noted that it would’ve been a different story if the circumstances were changed slightly.
“(T)he pilots managed to get the aircraft to a level in which the cabin was pressurized & they could breathe,” Laurie wrote. “Had they not been able to safely and quickly.. there would have been a different outcome.”
Sure they did, because the pilots managed to get the aircraft to a level in which the cabin was pressurized & they could breathe. Had they not been able to safely and quickly.. there would have been a different outcome. Flight Attendants are aviations FIRST responders. Listen!
— Bobby Laurie (@BobbyLaurie) April 17, 2018
“It would have mattered a lot if they were at 35,000 feet. They would be dead. Period,” he added.
According to the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, Laurie’s statements are correct.
“Flying at high altitudes with a hole in an airplane is, to put it lightly, dangerous. At altitudes above 15,000 feet, people struggle to breathe and keep enough oxygen in their blood. They can lose consciousness within minutes — a condition called hypoxia,” Business Insider explained.
The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association noted that symptoms of hypoxia include “nausea, apprehension, tunnel vision, headaches, fatigue, dizziness, blurred vision, tingling sensations, numbness, and mental confusion.”
“If you don’t cover both your nose and mouth with the mask, not enough oxygen may get into your bloodstream, putting you at risk of losing consciousness,” Business Insider added.
The Southwest flight was en route from New York’s LaGuardia Airport to Dallas’ Love Field with over 140 passengers on board when a portion of the engine broke off, smashing open a passenger window and causing the plane to depressurize, killing one of the passengers.
https://twitter.com/joeasaprap/status/986277894279311360
The pilot quickly took the plane down to 10,000 feet, traveling at more than 3,000 feet per minute.
“All the sudden, it felt like we dropped 100 feet,” said Timothy Bourman, a pastor in New York. “A lot of people started panicking and yelling, just real scared.”
The pilot was able to make a successful emergency landing in Philadelphia.
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