It seems that commercial airline
are removing emergency oxygen from washrooms for fear of it being used as an explosive device. Another reason not to fly or just a reason not to use the washrooms in-flight?

Sorry - forgot the link:
http://m.wltx.com/national/article?a=161128&f=1348

I always hold my breath anyway. So it doesn't bother me!

Maybe someone can tell us: how quickly do we lose consciousness or becoming debilitated if the cabin loses air pressure? In other words, in an emergency will you have time to finish up & run back to your seat?

DB

In the event of sudden, catastrophic decompression at 35,000 feet, you'll have a half minute to one minute of useful conciousness. Plus factor in all the mayhem in the cabin and the stress. The pilot will be executing an emergency descent to a lower altitude so it may be hard to even stand on your feet.

Flights tend to be quite crowded these days, but I think your best bet would be to find an extra mask as close to the lavatory as possible. Obviously, any free mask and seat will probably be a middle seat.

Hmmm... how much of that time would be used just to realize that SOMETHING is happening, come to terms with the situation and decide that the right action is to go get an oxygen mask?

If you pass out - will you simply regain consciousness as soon as conditions have stabilized after the emergency descent? I would think so (and hope so!).

Hopefully you've not been tossed about too bad in the lavatory when the pilots made the dive from high altitude.

The pilots have quick-donning oxygen gear so they should be good. They practice this.

If it's truly sudden, massive decompression (why did this happen?) I think the maneuver is to roll the plane on its side and unload the wings into something like a sideways 0 g condition.
This drops the plane quickly and doesn't build up airspeed like a dive would. It's an acrobatic kind of maneuver because the emergency is very serious. Of course if there's doubt about structural integrity after the decomp then a less radical maneuver is done. So you'll be unconscious longer.

You aren't going to be returning to your seat easily during this maneuver.

Hopefully you didn't fly with a cold because your sinuses would likely be damaged in the event as well.

Wow, I've never heard of a commercial airliner pulling a manuever like that. What is it called?

By 0g, I assume it would be like riding NASA's "Vomit Comet" training aircraft that simulates 0g? Nothing better than tasting the same airline meal "twice" on a long flight!

I was on a NWA flight from Minneapolis years ago when the oxygen masks deployed due to a sensor malfunction. It probably took me 10 seconds to grasp the yellow mask and put it over my face. Looking around you had people saying, what happened, talking to each other, looking over the seats for a flight attendant. I was convinced we were about to die catastrophically so it is still one of the most memorable moments in my life. Probably half the people didn't put their masks on before the pilot came on the intercom and said there was no emergency.

there's always potential survivors, and everyone else. The great God Boeing drops an oxygen mask in your lap, put it on immediately.

I'm speculating on this somewhat because I'm not a trained airline pilot. (just a light airplane pilot, glider flight instructor, and historian of local airplane crashes - maybe a real line pilot can chime in?) The difference being that you'd be riding the plane while it's at a very high bank angle. Vomit Comet does its thing wings-level.

But I could safely say that the maneuver would be called the "sudden decompression emergency descent maneuver" - or something like it :-) (Followed by the "mass upchuck chorus")

Descending without building up excessive speed is important. High speed means an indelicate pullup could bend wings, cause high g in the cabin and you still have to bleed off the speed. And simple airspeed = airframe stress. There is a reason there is a Redline Speed (Max. Never Exceed). You also have a maximum speed for flight thru turbulence so.... getting down when it's bumpy also needs to be achievable.

Yes, it would be quite the chaotic ride down.
Better for the emergency to be slow decompression so changing altitudes briskly would do the job.

Pretty hypothetical, but would it be possible to share air, as one does in scuba emergencies, if you could not reach your own air supply? - hopefully with an attractive passenger of the opposite sex....