"Mary Shafer" wrote in message
|
| Langeweische wrote, in his article about the ValuJet accident, that no
| passenger had ever been saved by cabin O2. I don't know where he got
| that information, but he's pretty good about checking statements like
| that.

He is probably right. At the altitudes airliners fly the partial pressure of
oxygen is too low to be absorbed by the bloodstream. You could fill the
entire cabin with pure oxygen and everybody would still suffocate. Those
little masks are not pressurized. Even if they were, the little elastic
thingies that hold the mask on would not maintain the required pressure. The
crew, of course, have pressurized masks.

On the other hand, it would take some time for people to start dying or
suffering permanent brain damage from lack of oxygen. The frail would be
most vulnerable, but a healthy passenger would at worst just pass out until
the airliner descended into breathable air.