The flight rules on an airline can be confusing and seem like they are slightly useless.
With some including having to strap children into their own seat and to not have reclined seats when landing, it’s easy to misunderstand why it would ever help.
However, a flight attendant has revealed how one of the most important rules actually makes sense.
The rule of putting an oxygen mask on themselves before a child is actually one of the most important ones to follow.
When it comes to putting an oxygen mask on, the instructions are to put it on the adult first.
However, as most parents know, they would always rather make sure their child is safe in the case of an emergency before themselves.
Flight attendant Amanda Pleva explains on Flyertalk.com that science explains how this life or death moment needs to actually be the adult first.
It all boils down to the size of the adult’s body in comparison.
“The size of an adult body is, of course, much larger than a child’s, therefore requiring more oxygen,” Amanda explains.
“The time it takes before our ability to think clearly is known as TUC, or Time Of Useful Consciousness.”
As the oxygen lowers as well as the plane rapidly descending, this can mean that the brain works much slower and makes decisions at a slower rate.
However, children are smaller which means less decrease in oxygen, “An average adult at 35,000 feet has between 30 and 60 seconds TUC. A child needs less oxygen and will, therefore, have a higher TUC.”
