UPS adds full-face oxygen masks to planes

By Arielle Kass

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

UPS is adding an additional safety feature to its planes, the second such addition it has announced since a Sept. 3 crash killed two pilots in Dubai.

The Sandy Springs company will pay to retrofit its planes with full-face oxygen masks with integrated smoke goggles over the next two years. In April, UPS announced it would add Emergency Vision Assurance Systems to planes, devices that allow pilots to see their flight path and instruments through a smoky cockpit.

The masks and EVAS systems are in direct response to the plane crash last fall. While the cause of a fire on the plane has not yet been determined, a preliminary report from the United Arab Emirates' General Civil Aviation Authority confirmed that smoke in the cockpit made it more difficult for the pilots to see their flight instruments. A UPS task force has been suggesting ways to improve flight safety, with a particular focus on in-flight fires.

The new one-piece masks can be put on in three seconds and fit crew members who wear glasses better than the separate oxygen masks and smoke goggles that pilots currently use.

The devices will give pilots the time they need to manage an aircraft in smoke, said Brian Gaudet, public affairs director for the 2,800-member Independent Pilots Association.

"This is a really big deal," he said. "In a critical situation, time counts."