A flight full of tourists had to be stopped in the air due to a technical error that caused the aircraft to fail to pressurize.
An official report into last year’s incident revealed that the 193 people on board the Tui Airways flight from Manchester Airport in the United Kingdom to Kos in Greece “were exposed to the risk of hypoxia. ”
A cabin altitude alert was triggered on the Boeing 737-8K5 on October 17, 2023, while the plane was flying over Lincolnshire in eastern England.
The aircraft returned to Manchester and there were no injuries, but the Air Accidents Investigation Bureau (AAIB) report stated that those on board were likely to have been at risk of falling oxygen levels during the incident.
The investigation revealed that switches that regulate air pressure inside the plane, known as compressed air switches, were turned off during maintenance work carried out on the air conditioning system before takeoff. This error was not identified by the crew during pre-flight safety measures.
One of the engineers who performed maintenance on the aircraft told investigators that he believed the switches had been “returned to their original position” after checking the jet’s air conditioning system. A second engineer failed to realize that the switches were, in fact, in the off position.
The failure was also not detected by the pilots, neither before takeoff nor during “post-takeoff checks”, as pointed out in the report.
When the error was identified, the pilots turned the switches back on, but the report found that the crew did not take other actions outlined in the Quick Reaction Manual in response to the alert. These actions included the use of oxygen masks.
The report suggested that pilots felt that flipping the switches was enough to fix the problem and that further measures would be “disproportionate.”
“However, immediate use of the oxygen masks would have given both pilots immediate protection against any risk of hypoxia and allowed them to clarify the situation with the greatest risk already removed,” the report said.
After the switches were turned back on, the plane continued to climb, but the warning signal remained lit for 43 minutes before any action was taken to halt the climb and consult with Tui maintenance staff at Manchester Airport, the report said. The captain then made the decision to return to Manchester.
Cerebral hypoxia – which occurs when the brain is deprived of oxygen – can happen if a plane reaches too high an altitude or if there is a loss of pressure in the cabin. It can also be the result of carbon monoxide poisoning or excessive smoke inhalation from a fire.
Every pilot’s reaction to hypoxia is different, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). However, it is extremely difficult for a person to notice when it is occurring, as the onset of symptoms is subtle.
THE CNN reached out to Tui for a comment.
This content was originally published in Flight is interrupted in the air after pilots miss a technical error, says investigation on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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