Virgin Flight To Brisbane Encounters "Catastrophic" Mid-Air Emergency

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:12):
I heard podcasts, year more, kiss podcasts, playlists and listen
live on the free iHeart app Robin and Kids Now
with Coorios the podcast.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
There was a flight, a Virgin flight flying from Sydney
to Brisbane on Wednesday night around nine o'clock and it
dropped from thirty seven thousand feet where it was cruising
down to eight thousand feet.

Speaker 1 (00:40):
That is a huge dramatic drop.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
In seconds they got there. They lost cabin pressure when
the mark I've never been on a plane with the
masks that day, but that I would imagine is a
panic moment.

Speaker 3 (00:52):
I knew someone on there, but there was Yeah. I
only found out like an hour or two after it,
but yeah, I just said it was the scariest moment
of their life. Like everyone on there thought it was done.

Speaker 2 (01:04):
We're dying, it's over, just.

Speaker 3 (01:06):
Out of the sky, just fell out of sky.

Speaker 1 (01:08):
It's drop or does it descend?

Speaker 3 (01:11):
I don't know, it'd be a bit of both. I
would yeah, find out.

Speaker 2 (01:14):
Let's find out, because yes, we do have one of
the absolute foremost experts in aviation in Keith Tonkin, who's
the world leading adiation expert.

Speaker 4 (01:24):
Get a Keith, good morning, Good to be with you.

Speaker 2 (01:27):
Thanks, mate. So, yeah, Robin's question, does a plane when
it descends like that, does it descend or does it
literally just feel like it's dropping.

Speaker 4 (01:36):
Well, it might feel like it's dropping, but it's definitely
under the control of the pilots. There's a certain procedure
to conduct when you have those sorts of incidents, and
the pilots will have practiced that in the simulator many times.
So yeah, definitely under control to get the aircraft down
to an attitude where they can breathe oxygen safely and
continue to flight.

Speaker 1 (01:55):
So it happens, Why would it not have the air
at thirty seven thousand feet.

Speaker 4 (02:01):
Yeah, Well, normally the cabin is kept pressurized. Air is
pumped into the cabin to keep enough oxygen in there
for us all to breathe. And if the pressurization system
stops working properly, then the oxygen levels drop and we
start becoming unconscious and that's not great. So the solution
to that is to descend the aircraft down to a
height where you get naturally occurring oxygen levels that can

(02:24):
sustain life and continue safely.

Speaker 3 (02:26):
Right, how long do they have obviously when that happens,
and if they're up there for too long.

Speaker 4 (02:32):
What can it cause? Yeah, if you stay up there
for too long, we become unconscious. And then remember the
pilots have got their own oxygen bottle, so the first
thing they'll do is put a mask on and they
can breathe oxygen, then continue to operate the aircraft while
the passengers get about ten minutes in the oxygen that
drops down out of the overhead bins. So you've got
got a while. But yeah, sometimes if you don't have

(02:55):
that oxygen, you've got thirty seconds to a minute before
you became unconscious.

Speaker 2 (03:00):
So is there time then for the pilots to tell
everyone what's happening or do they just have to act?

Speaker 4 (03:05):
Well, they have, they have to act, but they also
make sure that they make that announcement to the cabin
to say that they're doing an emergency of the scent,
and then the cabin crew take on their actions after that.
But otherwise the pilots are really concentrating on flying the airplane.

Speaker 1 (03:19):
Is there a chance in a situation like that that
the plane would crash?

Speaker 4 (03:25):
I look very unlikely. That we always prepare for those
sorts of incidents anytime an aeroplane takes lop it has
to be have enough fuel on board to fly safely
at a lower altitude and to be able to fly
that altitude without running into things.

Speaker 2 (03:39):
Yeah, so what and when the announcement comes across, if
you haven't got your seat belt on at that time,
are they descending at a speed that you'd actually go
up and hit the roof.

Speaker 4 (03:50):
It's unlikely you hit the roof, but it would be
a very sharp push over, and then once you've pushed over,
it'd be pretty stable.

Speaker 2 (03:58):
Okay, tell me.

Speaker 1 (03:59):
What's happening in air traffic control when a plane does that?
Is everything else being told to get out of the way.

Speaker 4 (04:06):
Air traffic control, they'll get some alerts as well that
the aircraft has left it out ude and it will
prompt the air traffic controllers to start looking at what
are our traffics in the way and then make some
decisions about how to make sure that aircraft is kept
clear of everybody else if they can.

Speaker 2 (04:22):
Some of the reports Keith are saying that well, obviously,
when you're down at eight thousand feet, not only is
there oxygen that you can breathe, but there's also mobile
service and people were texting their goodbyes.

Speaker 4 (04:32):
Yeah, have you heard that. It's probably probably true full
on it. Yeah, well there may have been Wi Fi
on board of the aircraft as well where they could
be that. But yeah, for sure, Keith.

Speaker 1 (04:46):
You are a wealth of information and if there is
ever anything that happens with planes, we are going to
get back in touch.

Speaker 2 (04:53):
Thank you so much much.

Speaker 4 (04:55):
That's a pleasure to be with you. Thank you.

Speaker 2 (04:57):
Kay just before we let you go, do you have
a soft spot for Keith Urban your namesake. Of course,
you've gotta love Keithy. Thank you Keith