FAA Amends Oxygen Mask Rule
The U.S. FAA has amended a Part 121 rule requiring an increase in the flight level threshold at which the remaining pilot at the aircraft controls must don an oxygen mask when the other pilot leaves his or her seat. The amendment, which went into effect on March 23, increases the required flight level threshold from FL 250 to FL 410.
The FAA has long mandated certificate holders to furnish, and flight crewmembers to use, oxygen masks during domestic, flag, or supplemental operations involving turbine-engine powered airplanes with pressurized cabins. The FAA established the requirements to mitigate the risk of an event of an in-flight cabin pressurization failure.
Petitioners backing the amendment have asserted that the more limited use of oxygen masks below FL 410 would not adversely affect safety because of the extremely low risk for depressurization at altitudes above flight level 250. Meanwhile, the FAA said certificate holders will incur “minimal” costs associated with updating manuals and flight crewmember training programs to include the new flight level standard. Certificate holders already make frequent updates; according to the FAA, the amendment involves only a straightforward change in flight level and regulatory references. Industry has indicated it supports this amendment.
The amendment essentially harmonizes the FAA rules with those of the International Civil Aviation Organization and comes after the Air Line Pilots Association lobbied for its inclusion in the 2018 FAA reauthorization act.
However, there remains some concern among some in the pilot community that the change would result in crews losing the benefit of repetitive interaction with a vital piece of safety equipment. “Most pilots never really put the mask on when the other pilot left,” said one retired airline pilot who spoke with AIN on condition of anonymity. “They were too busy talking to the flight attendants. But there was one thing this did on a daily basis…It made the pilot interact with a needed piece of equipment. At [our airline] we knew how to take the mask out, test it, put it back into the box and over time we became familiar with using the mask. Now that is all gone. Airline pilots will never have to take the mask out again unless it is needed for an emergency. This is not good.”