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Is That Airplane Oxygen Mask Photo an Example of Stupidity or Bad Design?

By Rain Noe - April 26, 2018

in Object Culture

When that Southwest Airlines flight depressurized last week between New York and Dallas, killing that poor woman, the plane began descending rapidly and the overhead oxygen masks deployed. I'll never understand this compulsion, but one of the chaps in the photo below pulled out his phone to capture this selfie:

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As you can see, all three people are wearing their oxygen masks incorrectly. It is meant to be worn, as you undoubtedly remember from countless flight attendant demonstrations, over both the mouth and the nose.

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My first instinct was to dismiss these people as idiots, because I was still hung up on the "Who shoots a selfie when they think they are going to die" thing. But after removing my bias, I considered the design of the mask, which is round.

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So just now I grabbed a coffee mug approximately the same diameter as the mask and tried putting it over my mouth and nose. Unsurprisingly, the shape doesn't jive.

However, the masks, unlike coffee mugs, are made of soft plastic. When worn properly, they do conform to the face, as seen in these images:

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The problem is that the default circular shape does not look as if it will fit over your mouth and nose. Add panic to the mix and I can forgive these dingbats for not wearing it right. If these were more teardrop-shaped, like a dust mask or the mouthpiece of a respirator, even an imbecile could deduce how they were meant to be worn.

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Another thing about the design is the following weird feature. I can't quite call this a design…flaw, but look at the position of the apertures on the inside of this mask:

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So the engine explodes, a window shatters, a woman gets partially sucked out of the window, the plane goes into a dive, you think you're going to die, then this mask deploys and you're looking at a startled emoji.

Which presents you with an awful dilemma: Do I have time to Instagram both the inside of this mask and a selfie before this plane hits the ground?

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Juan Cano

6 years ago

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I couldn't help it so I bought one of these masks on Ebay. The 'mask' part is not very big as you see in the photos. Showing it to a few people, your first move is to put it under your chin, which doesn't leave enough room for your nose. When you put it over your nose and mouth, it feels odd, like you're doing it wrong. It is flexible so you have to push it in to fit correctly, or the strap does this for you. It barely fits me, I'm 5' 11". I understand this mask has to be universal. Maybe not circular, oval would be better? The inside of the mask could have instructions. I couldn't find any other style, they seem to be a universal design.

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Scott Paradis

6 years ago

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There's some other glaring design flaws that I just cannot help but point out:

1. The mystery plastic bag... which "may or may not inflate even though oxygen is flowing". THe normal state for it to be deflated. But WHY? As far the mask user is concerned, the bag serves no visible purpose and just adds confusion to the system. In fact, seeing something that looks like it *should* inflate on a device meant to be filled air probably makes the user believe that it *will* inflate. I suspect that the bag is designed to capture possible excess oxygen flow from the chemically-generated o2 systems overhead, which probably don't have the most predictable flow rates. But given that the bag neither conveys that purpose, nor is the inflated state reflective of the operational status of the system, it is simply getting in the way (obstructing vision and possibly airways), and likely confuses a lot of people as well. Certainly there's a better way to provide overflow capacity (or whatever it does) without dangling a bag in front of my face.

2. The elastic bands. First, these bands have to be pulled down and away from your face, near the nose, to tighten. How many people do you think get confused when they can't tighten these things? A lot. So they end up just cramming and holding the mask to their faces (look at the Southwest photo.. LOTS of people holding these masks in place!). This creates a couple problems, notably, the loss of use of a hand, which can create a cascade of other problems, like paralyzing fear of losing your mask, for starters. We already know the size range of the human head. Creating a strap that is elastic enough to be one-size fit all is not that difficult. Sure, the guy with a size 10 head might be a little tight, but as long as the strap doesn't break or impede the function of the mask, I'm sure he'll be fine with it being tighter rather than loose. And size 10 heads usually have size 20 arms (Barry Bonds?), so if they have to pull a little harder to get their mask on, it's not going to be difficult for them as compared to say, a child with a very small head.

3. Activation. Users have to "pull down to activate the oxygen flow". How many people do you think forget to do this critical step? You see, these are chemically generated o2 systems because it's terribly unsafe to store pressurized, highly-flammable o2 on a plane. A pressurized system like that also has lots of failure points and maintenance costs. By instead using solid-state chemicals that, when combined, create heat and oxygen, a more more shelf-stable and predictable system can be created. Except for one major flaw: for some reason, they decided the individual end user should be responsible for pulling down to mechanically activate a firing pin which combines the chemicals and start the reaction. Now granted, this is probably a reliability concern, as you don't wan't 300 little motors and pressure switches that can each fail. But the supply tubes now have to be a fixed length.. short enough that the user must pull it down to reach their face. This not only doesn't work for short people and children who can't reach, but it restricts the mobility of a capable passenger from assisting anywhere beyond the reach of their tubing. The whole system already pops open at once from overhead. I expect that those release latches are a mechanical (cable?) control. Pulling the latch pins should pull the activation pins, too. Keep user out of the equation.

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Sabrina Kelley

4 years ago

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I know this was supposed to be somewhat serious. But that Emoji Part was all it took for me to spit out my coffee & Laugh my MF Ass off!!

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Juan Cano

6 years ago

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Made in Kansas.

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Robb Ludwig

6 years ago

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"Jibe," not "jive."

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Guy Prentice

6 years ago

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Perhaps the photo was taken after the aircraft descended to a lower altitude.

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Juan Cano

6 years ago

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I was thinking the same thing when I saw your previous post. I wasn't aware the masks were made of soft plastic. The teardrop shape would make much more sense but, the way the mask drops, would it be upside down sometimes? It could also say "NOSE" or a picture of a nose inside the mask, I don't know, something universal. This is a good article, says you have about 18 seconds to put the mask on, why do selfies? Also, not really oxygen masks: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/what-you-dont-know-about-airplane-oxygen-masks

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