Two Alaska Pilots May Be Suspended

A federal inspector recommended that two Alaska Airlines pilots be suspended for six months after they continued a flight instead of turning around after the emergency oxygen system for their 92 passengers was partly used up.

The inspector’s report said the pilots apparently failed to flip switches properly to pressurize a new Boeing 737-700 at the start of a trip from Portland to San Jose, Calif., on March 25.

A cockpit alarm sounded and oxygen masks automatically dropped from the ceiling as the plane rose above 14,000 feet. Many passengers donned the masks, activating canisters used in the emergency oxygen system.

The pilots restored pressure in the cabin. But rather than returning to Portland immediately, the pilots flew to San Jose with no emergency oxygen available for about half the passengers, inspector Dennis Overman wrote in the report submitted Tuesday.

The Federal Aviation Administration requires that the system be available. At 41,000 feet, a loss of pressure could have caused death or brain damage for anyone without an oxygen supply, Overman wrote.

He recommended a six-month suspension of the pilots’ licenses for flying an unworthy aircraft, careless and reckless flying, continuing a flight in unsafe conditions and failing to assure the availability of emergency oxygen for all passengers.

The pilots, Capt. Michael Alan Reese, 56, of Long Beach, Calif., and First Officer Vincent Emile Danet, 38, of San Diego, were placed on paid administrative leave after the plane arrived safely, Alaska Airlines spokesman Jack Evans said.