How Many Men Does it take to Replace an Oxygen Mask on an Airplane?

The answer is three.

My trip was off to a good start, but nearly hit a roadblock in Denver when our plane was delayed due to a maintenance issue. We were all already on the plane, when a row near me reported that their oxygen masks were hanging out of the ceiling. So one man came up and tried to put them back where they belong. Soon, I could hear him in the radio saying “Well, if I had some extra hands, that might work, but I need another person or two.”

Shortly, two other men joined him. Here were these three men, standing on the plane seats, all trying to work together to shove the oxygen masks back into the compartment where they belong! Yet this was not an easy process. Then once they finally got the masks in the ceiling, they had to try to put the cover back on. Well, for some reason, this just wasn’t working. It wasn’t snapping into place like it should.

I started thinking, “Why don’t they just duct tape that shut and call it a day?” After all, we had now passed our departure time and couldn’t leave until this was fixed. They must have read my mind, because that was exactly what they did! They did have to evacuate that row and have them sit elsewhere for safety reasons, though. So it looked like we would be on our way as soon as the paperwork was completed.

Not so fast! The tape didn’t hold, and the oxygen masks came crashing out of the ceiling once again! So the three men had to return and shove the masks back in there again, this time applying more tape and in two directions to make the cover more secure.

This time it worked, and we were finally on our way, about an hour behind schedule. I was worried I would miss my connection, but fortunately, I usually schedule my flights with at least two hours layover just for this reason. And once I got to Tokyo, my flight to Taipei ended up being delayed, too.

But I eventually made it to Taipei!