In a large aircraft, if the passenger cabin begins to lose air pressure, warning systems sound an alarm, oxygen masks drop down, and the pilots begin a quick descent to below 10,000 feet.
In smaller aircraft, however, such warning and support systems sometimes do not exist, puting the crew and passengers at risk from hypoxia (lack of O2) in the event of an air leak.
The pager-sized Personal Cabin Pressure Altitude Monitor, shown above, was developed expressly to detect unusual changes in air pressure. It provides a timely warning to the crew while they are still mentally and physically able to take corrective action.
These types of incidents are relatively rare, the last being the crash of a small plane carrying golfer Payne Stewart in October 1999.
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Hypoxia is frightening; I didn’t realize there’s no warning of this in smaller aircraft.
It’s terrifying whenever oxygen masks come down, even if the reason for it is minor.