Newsgroups: sci.aeronautics.airliners Path: news From: gjacobs@qualcomm.com (Gary Jacobs) Subject: Emergency Oxygen Masks Message-ID: Approved: kls@ohare.Chicago.COM Summary: How often is testing done and what is failure rate? Organization: Qualcomm, Inc., San Diego, CA X-Original-Message-Id: Sender: kls@ohare.Chicago.COM Date: Tue, 24 Nov 1992 07:43:50 GMT Having just been involved in a flight where the oxygen masks were dropped, I'm curious what the test criteria are and how often is it done? I'd also like to know what the failure rate is? On my flight, America West on a Boeing 737, an oil seal supposedly failed on the APU for the air conditioning system. This sent oily smoke in the cabin. I assume the cockpit crew decided that breathing that air wasn't good for the passengers and dropped, or should I say tried to drop, the emergency oxygen masks. I'd say that 1/4 of the overhead doors did not open until they were pried open by a passenger and then a lot of the masks did not seem to supply oxygen even after following the "pull hard to start the flow of oxygen" instructions. I looked at my mask which didn't work and could not tell what the "pull hard" did to start the oxygen. Gary Jacobs gjacobs@qualcomm.com