In 1977 I think it was, I was on a plane traveling from Germany stateside. As we approached Newfoundland everyone’s ears popped, and it began raining inside the cabin. Attendants passed out blankets to hold over our heads. The two worried old folks beside me, who had flown only once before, looked at me and asked if this were normal. I said, “No. What has happened is, the cabin has partially depressurized. There is a small hole in the cabin somewhere and the change of pressure is condensing the water vapor from our breathing out of the air. We’ll descend now so we can keep breathing.”
Interestingly, the O2 breathers, (or Dixie Cups on a fake tube, depending on your level of cynicism), did not drop down except in a very few instances. And sure enough the pilot soon came on and said, “Ladies and gentlemen, I understand we’re experiencing a bit of inclement weather inside the cabin, but outside it’s such a beautiful day I’ve decided to break regulations a little and descend to show you some remarkable sights most passengers never see. If you’ll look out of the right side of the plane, you’ll see the coast of Newfoundland passing…”
He jollied the folks through with nonsense as he descended under 10,000 feet and we flew down the coast, past Gander where he could have emergency diverted, (my wife had that experience a decade or so later), and he made it to JFK. Not a word ever reached the media, and most of the passengers apparently had no clue.
This corporate game of roulette with passenger’s lives, where they balance us against the risk of not doing sufficient inspection and maintenance, has been endemic to the industry for a long time. Southwest’s current woes, and Boeing’s, is nothing new, just the latest instance where they were caught because it was too big a problem to cover up. When we fly we expect to be safe. “Flying is far safer than driving,” we’re told, and statistics bear this out. But the dark side to those statistics is, they were gathered as a mini-max risk/benefit analysis, and the conclusion was that so few passengers would end up suing or costing the airlines money after an accident or equipment failure due to planned negligence to save cost that they’ll willingly forego basic safety to a level that would shut down flying if the public ever knew.
So enjoy the friendly skies because it’s the ground that’s going to end up smashing and splashing you.
