Alaska Pilots Cited for Handling of Oxygen Problem

Two Alaska Airlines pilots continued a flight instead of turning around after the emergency oxygen system for their 92 passengers was partly used up, and a federal inspector recommended that they be suspended for six months.

The inspector’s report said the pilots apparently failed to flip switches properly to pressurize a new Boeing 737-700 at the start of a trip from Portland, Ore., to San Jose on March 25.

A cockpit alarm sounded, and oxygen masks automatically dropped from the ceiling as the plane rose above 14,000 feet. Many passengers donned the masks, activating canisters used in the emergency oxygen system.

The pilots restored pressure in the cabin. But rather than returning to Portland immediately, the pilots continued to 41,000 feet and flew on to San Jose with no emergency oxygen available for about half the passengers, inspector Dennis Overman wrote in the report submitted Tuesday.

The Federal Aviation Administration requires that the system be available. At 41,000 feet, a loss of pressure could cause brain damage or death for anyone without an oxygen supply, Overman wrote.

He recommended a six-month suspension of the pilots’ licenses for flying an unworthy aircraft, careless and reckless flying, continuing a flight in unsafe conditions and failing to assure the availability of emergency oxygen for all passengers.

Reports on the incident were published Friday by the Seattle Times and the Washington Post. The Times’ report was based partly on the article in the Post.

Details on the oxygen deployment were confirmed by Alaska.

The pilots, Capt. Michael Alan Reese, 56, of Long Beach, and First Officer Vincent Emile Danet, 38, of San Diego, were placed on paid administrative leave after the plane arrived safely, Alaska Airlines spokesman Jack Evans said.

The pilots did not notify airline ground personnel about the situation or seek advice from operations managers, Evans added. The emergency oxygen supply was replenished only after the plane was flown without passengers to Seattle, the company’s headquarters.