Investigators Continue To Examine Causes Of Ryanair Depressurisation

Wednesday 3rd September 2008

Following the emergency landing of a Ryanair Boeing 737-800 jet on the 25th of August, French air safety investigators are attempting to establish a cause for the incident that ended with 26 passengers being admitted to hospital suffering from hearing problems after the rapid descent.

Following the incident airport officials from BEA have been investigating the Ryanair 737 and have been focusing on a possibly faulty air valve that could have caused the depressurisation incident. Air for passengers in an airliner is fed from the engines. The air that is fed inside the aircraft is controlled by an outflow valve, and if there had been a problem with this valve then it would have potentially have caused the problems witnessed aboard the Ryanair aircraft. This would have left the pilot little time to get the Boeing 737 to a much lower altitude where the air was breathable for the passengers and crew.

During a depressurisation the pilot has little time to react and get the aircraft to a safe altitude. Some estimates have indicated that a pilot could have as little as 30 seconds to react before they lost consciousness. A Helios Boeing 737 crashed in 2005 with the loss of 121 lives when a pressurisation control was switched from automatic to manual. Air force pilots reported witnessing a member of the cabin crew struggling with the controls before it crashed. Seemingly both pilots were incapacitated possibly due to the depressurisation emergency, similar to that onboard the Ryanair aircraft.

The process of pressurising and depressurising an aircraft puts considerable strain on the aircraft frame and if there were to be any small damage on the fuselage - that was so small possibly it could not be noticed - then over time this may have become larger causing the incident that was witnessed. However the depressurisation could also have been caused - as already discussed - by a faulty air valve. These are the suspicions that investigators will be working with as they attempt to establish a cause of the incident that could have been worse than it eventually was.

Ryanair have the youngest fleet of aircraft in Europe and have been described as having excellent emergency procedures in place to deal with such problems - despite widespread criticism after the incident about oxygen masks not working correctly - a claim that has now been dismissed. The airline were also criticised for not announcing to passengers what was occuring onboard the aircraft, however with both the pilot and co-pilot wearing oxygen masks and attempting to bring the Boeing 737 down to a safe altitude it is perfectly acceptable - surely - to acknowledge that public announcements were not their first priority and not easy to make with masks covering their faces.

Any developments on the Ryanair investigation will be covered here on Compare Airport Parking.