Alleged oxygen failure on flight under investigation

Both American Airlines and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) are involved in an investigation into a report that several oxygen masks failed to function during an emergency landing of one of the airline’s planes last week at the Los Angeles International Airport, according to a statement by officials on Monday.

Several of the masks in the passenger cabin did not drop down from the overhead bins and some failed to provide oxygen to passengers who were traveling on board the Boeing 757, said FAA spokesman, Ian Gregor.

“We’re looking into those reports, but we don’t know how many oxygen masks were affected at this time,” Gregor added.

American Airlines flight 31 departed LAX for Hawaii on August 5, but was forced to turn around and make an emergency landing about one hour later when smoke was reported in the cockpit and in the passenger cabin.

Flight attendants were able to deploy the mask manually for the 188 passengers as the plane headed back to land at Los Angeles, according to American Airlines spokesman Tim Wagner.

Some passengers said that there was no flow of oxygen to their masks, and others said that they did not see the air bags inflate with oxygen, Wagner noted. The masks are meant to be deployed automatically whenever there is a loss of pressure in the cabin, he added.

Although smoke was reported, no flames were seen during the flight. What had happened was that a small amount of oil leaked onto a compressor, creating smoke, and the smell had entered the cabin through the air-conditioning system, according to the airline’s spokesman.

www.aa.com