Loss of cabin pressure???

Question

the other day i was on a flight from new orleans to chicago and about 35 min into the flight our oxygen masks dropped. we had to put them on and get in the crash position. we landed back in new orleans in about 20 min from when this happened.. the pilots never did say we were at our cruising altitude and the flight attendents never did get up to start delivering drinks.. which in 35 min should have happened... i am wondering what happened.. i assume the pilots new something was wrong before the oxygen masks dropped... also i am wondering how common this is and what kind of danger we were in or was it not as bad as it seemed (it was very scary) i was traveling with my 2 month old and needless to say i wasnt about to get back on a plane so we drove home.

Answer 1

must be flying B737 right??? well, B737 use to have so many problem about loss of cabin pressure.. there is one 'small door' under the fuselage that control cabin pressure.. and usually this door have some malfunction and lead to loss of cabin pressure.. always with B737.. and that why, now-a-day, so many airlines stop the B737 service..

PEACE =D

Answer 2

I have flown 100's of times and never had the oxygen masks drop. I don't know why it happened, I'm surprised they didn't say, but it may have been a sensor malfunction.

Once I went through an aborted takeoff, the pilot came on and said the low fuel light (not sure if he was actually telling the truth or not) came on. After the aborted takeoff, we were taxiing back to the terminal when he came on and said the light went off, so he proceeded to take off. It was a transcontinental flight and everything went fine.

Answer 3

No, it is not at all common for this to happen. I've been flying for close to 30 years and have never seen the oxygen masks drop.

It is unlikely that you were in any danger. The fact that the oxygen masks dropped does not mean that the aircraft couldn't fly. It simply means that they can't get the cabin pressurized properly so that you can breathe normally at the altitudes that commercial jets use.  When that happens, the pilot descends to an altitude where you can breathe without oxygen masks and lands at the nearest airport. They had to take the aircraft out of service until the pressurization system could be repaired.

By the way, the earlier answer about airlines removing 737's due to problems is incorrect. The 737 is one of the most popular aircraft in the world and airlines continue to buy them in large numbers. The only ones that are being removed from service are older ones that are at the end of their design life or are less fuel efficient.  If they were inherently unsafe, some government safety agency somewhere in the world would have grounded them by now. None have.

Go ahead and fly on your next trip and don't worry about this. You will probably fly for the rest of your life without seeing another oxygen mask.