WASHINGTON — Forget the threats aloft posed by explosives hidden in shoes and underwear. For nearly a decade, we’ve been flying in airliners equipped with devices that — in the privacy of the planes’ bathrooms — could easily be used to spark flames capable of blowing the aircraft to smithereens.
The Federal Aviation Administration recently determined that the oxygen generators installed in the lavatories — for use by passengers in the event of rapid depressurization — were, in effect, weapons waiting to happen.
Without any public announcement, the agency on Feb. 10 directed U.S. airlines to disable the generators in 6,000 planes, according to an FAA statement. While the work was completed March 4, it wasn’t until March 10 that the agency publicized the disarming, holding back the information so potential attackers couldn’t capitalize on it before the threat was removed, the FAA said.
FAA officials would not say what triggered their concern about the generators now, so many years after the 9/11 attacks spawned the body scans, locked cockpits, shoe inspections, limits on liquid allowed aboard and other measures to prevent the transformation of aircraft into flying bombs.
The upshot for passengers is that, if the plane has to descend rapidly while they are attending to nature’s call, no oxygen masks will deploy to help them breathe. The FAA says such events are rare and, when they do occur, crew members always check the bathrooms.
The agency said it and aircraft manufacturers are now working to design safe lavatory oxygen systems.
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