In the wake of findings from the Helios 737 crash in 2005, in which the aircraft automatic pressurisation system failed to pressurise the aircraft and everyone (including the crew) became hypoxic, Europe's EASA has announced that it will explore the potential for rule making on three issues:
* Mandating the inclusion of cabin pressure value on FDR recordings - fairly common already
* Installing crash protected image recording equipment - try getting that past the unions
* Introducing hypoxia training for all crew - now that really does make sense!
Military pilots have been undergoing decompression and hypoxia training for years, for the very good reason that it is vital aircrew quickly recognise the symptoms of hypoxia and can react rapidly to pressurisation issues. Why? Because there really isn't very long to get it right.
There are organisations out there already offering this training to civilian operators; let's not wait for the rule making, we know it makes sense.
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