Quote:
Originally Posted by Halcyon
The loss of oxygen and possibility everyone just fell asleep unconcious is worrying.
Is there no detector or something to give some warning?
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Yes, there is a warning, but the pilots have a very short time (around 10 seconds) to get their oxygen masks on before they start to black out if it's a rapid decompression. If I recall correctly, in the Helios incident the aircraft failed to pressurise at all and the oxygen taps had been turned off in error. (The aircraft then flew itself to the programmed destination, and then circled until it ran out of fuel. Worst of all there was someone in the cockpit with a working oxygen mask, probably a cabin crew member, but they were unable to save the situation)
Though that's not what happened here. As Pierre says, the transponder was turned off between national ATC boundaries, and then two direction changes were made. Whoever was flying the aircraft may have used decompression to subdue everyone else on board, but that wasn't the full story.