Yikes. Apparently someone misread the “oxygen” cart in Melbourne and Qantas technicians have been filling oxygen tanks with nitrogen. You know, the oxygen tanks that supply the air to your masks in an emergency? Those oxygen tanks.
I’m reminded of that first scene Mission Impossible II where Sean Ambrose knocks out the entire plane with special gas and they fly it into a mountain side as they parachute to safety below.
What’s worse is that they’re not sure how many planes this error was affected by. While it might be easy to track down Qantas flights that were incorrectly loaded, their maintenance teams are also contracted out to other carriers that fly through Melbourne.
Nothing like adding to insult to injury in an emergency. “In addition to the plane spiraling out of control towards the Pacific Ocean, we’ve filled the oxygen tanks with nitrogen! Ha!”