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Behind the Scenes
of Aviation Safety
MIND MAGAZINE | It was the
early 1980s when the Boeing Company released a report by Robert D. Dean
and Kerry M. Whitaker called “Fear of Flying, Impact on the U.S. Air
Travel Industry.” It revealed that almost every third adult in America
is either anxious or afraid to fly. While their excuses were varied, the
most common thoughts passing through air passenger’s minds are possible
in-flight mechanical failures; bad weather conditions, flying at night
and over oceans.
To help passengers stay calm and think positively, most aviation
professionals assure the public that flying is the safest way to go and
statistics don’t lie. However, for an infrequent flyer, odds are not
favourable. No matter what officials say, the general public needs more
information touching safety issues.
Every day, four New York airports experience some of the most congested
air traffic in the world. John F. Kennedy Int., Newark Int., La Guardia
and Teterboro airports service nearly 3,000 flights on average every
single day (two landings/take-offs per minute). It is a real challenge,
not only for air traffic controllers, but for pilots as well. People may
think that air traffic controllers do the entire job of guiding the
jets. While this is true, the professional pilots we talked to said that
it is flying into the busiest air corridor in the world, not landings
and take-offs, which is considered to be one of most difficult procedure
for them.
Controllers start slowing the airliners down about 200 miles away from
the airport, so the number of planes in that radius is enormous. Most of
the time, what really taxes a pilot’s nerves is listening to the
rapid-speaking controllers issuing flight instructions (directions and
altitude changes) to so many aircrafts. At times like these, pilots are
ready for any type of scenario.
Close calls occur only if a landed airplane is taking its time to exit
the runway. When this happens, the plane behind it is ready to go around
one more time. To ensure safety, pilots are trained to immediately break
off the landing manoeuvre at any time, even if the airplane just seconds
from touchdown. It is normally not a big problem, and pilots deal with
it from time to time.
Here’ something freaky: some pilots enjoy the challenge of flying in
such conditions! Says one of the pilots we conversed with, “the most
exciting part of flying is landing out of a low approach in bad weather.
We fly so often that it is not something new or scary. It’s just more of
a challenge than normal operations when the weather is good.”
Another issue we went into was on-board oxygen masks and their real
intention. As all flyers know, there are oxygen masks that fall from
above each passenger in case of emergency. From a medical point of view,
oxygen in its pure form will cause a person to go in trance, so he
wouldn’t clearly understand what’s happening. Aviation oxygen is 99.9
per cent pure with a tolerance of 0.3 per cent PPM water. The masks are
not intended for extended use (approximately 12 minutes). But believe it
or not, even on its highest altitudes, pilots of a plane in trouble can
get it down to 14,000 feet where the air is breathable (the air starts
to get human friendly at 25,000 feet) in around four minutes.
When there is a problem on board, keeping passengers calm is extremely
important not only to all crew members, but for the passengers’ safety
as well. In situations like these, pure oxygen really helps out by
keeping them “high.” To achieve this (for oxygen to be beneficial),
there must be at least five litres blowing into the mask device.
Otherwise, passengers will breathe back their own carbon dioxide and, if
this occurs, there is a big chance that they will simply pass out.
Pilots, of course, are more secure. They have an emergency feature that
forces oxygen into their lungs. So, no matter what trouble is under way,
pilots will still fly the plane and will do everything to land it
safely.
Nevertheless, the true effectiveness of emergency oxygen masks is
questionable. As the expert in anatomy & physiology told us, “on an
airliner that is in trouble, masks fall down, people are already
hyperventilating -an increase in the rate of breathing- due to fear
alone. How effective are the masks while you are hyperventilating?
Again, you breathe in your own carbon dioxide, and oxygen isn’t really
going to help.”
Aviation officials therefore remind you that when the flight attendant
says “breathe normally”, she really means it. They also suggest never
taking a deep breath and holding it while the airplane is in an
emergency descent.
For all anxious passengers out there, we want you to stay aware that
aviators have taken measures for you to get back on Earth safely. It may
not be the perfect solution or 100 per cent guaranteed, but they need
you to know that you’re always backed up. Remember that they want you to
enjoy flying, and not be scared of it. We wish you a smooth landing.
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