S.T.Aviator
Well-Known Member
Clearing the air up there
By Kara Kostanich - bio | email
Posted by Rachel Leigh - email
(WFLX) - Ever wonder just how clean the air is aboard a commercial jetliner? You may be surprised to learn your favorite airline could be serving up more than just peanuts and soda at 30,000 feet.
For 30 years, Captain John Hoyte had a dream career as an airline pilot. Then, in 2004, an awful moment. He couldn't fly. "I thought I had Alzheimer's. I started to lose my speech. I couldn't relate to other people, had all sorts of other issues -- brain fog, word finding, memory. I thought what was going on? If I fly today I'm going to kill myself, kill passengers, this is not good. I've got to stop. And that was in 2004. I actually walked off the aircraft."
Soon, Hoyte's flying career was over. He was grounded - diagnosed with chronic stress. Then, he was contacted by another grounded pilot, Tristan Lorain, who asked Hoyte to volunteer for a blood test.
The results for Hoyte and 25 other grounded pilots showed the presence of Tricresi lphosphates or TCP.
TCP is used on aircraft as an oil additive to prevent engine wear. It's chemically similar to a pesticide.
Now, every aircraft gets fresh air into the cabin the same way: It's drawn in through the engine and fed through the plane's air conditioning system. Some say the air can be contaminated by leaking oils to form a fine, sometimes toxic, mist. "All the pilots that I've seen are very senior pilots. They're all captains; they've been flying for over 10 years."
In 2006, the United Kingdom Department of Transport commissioned an independent study by Cranfield University to monitor and analyse cabin air aboard Bae 146s, Boeing 757s and Airbus 319s. In all, 100 flights will be monitored. Study results won't be known until next summer.
Five European airlines are allowing inflight monitoring, but no U.S. carriers are participating. So, as a passenger, there are things you can look for.
Professor Clement Furlong at the University of Washington says sometimes you can't see a fume event, but you can often smell it. "So, as far as the passengers are concerned, they'd smell what's been described as a dirty sock smell, a vomit smell, a wet dog smell, and then the symptoms they might experience would be headache, nausea, dizziness, shaking, tingling."
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration says: "The concerns raised by crew members about fume events are reasonable and are being investigated. The FAA believes that the cabin environment in the vast majority of commercial flights is safe."
To push the airlines into using different air supplies, Hoyte started a Web site devoted to Aerotoxic Syndrome, http://www.aerotoxic.org/.
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By Kara Kostanich - bio | email
Posted by Rachel Leigh - email
(WFLX) - Ever wonder just how clean the air is aboard a commercial jetliner? You may be surprised to learn your favorite airline could be serving up more than just peanuts and soda at 30,000 feet.
For 30 years, Captain John Hoyte had a dream career as an airline pilot. Then, in 2004, an awful moment. He couldn't fly. "I thought I had Alzheimer's. I started to lose my speech. I couldn't relate to other people, had all sorts of other issues -- brain fog, word finding, memory. I thought what was going on? If I fly today I'm going to kill myself, kill passengers, this is not good. I've got to stop. And that was in 2004. I actually walked off the aircraft."
Soon, Hoyte's flying career was over. He was grounded - diagnosed with chronic stress. Then, he was contacted by another grounded pilot, Tristan Lorain, who asked Hoyte to volunteer for a blood test.
The results for Hoyte and 25 other grounded pilots showed the presence of Tricresi lphosphates or TCP.
TCP is used on aircraft as an oil additive to prevent engine wear. It's chemically similar to a pesticide.
Now, every aircraft gets fresh air into the cabin the same way: It's drawn in through the engine and fed through the plane's air conditioning system. Some say the air can be contaminated by leaking oils to form a fine, sometimes toxic, mist. "All the pilots that I've seen are very senior pilots. They're all captains; they've been flying for over 10 years."
In 2006, the United Kingdom Department of Transport commissioned an independent study by Cranfield University to monitor and analyse cabin air aboard Bae 146s, Boeing 757s and Airbus 319s. In all, 100 flights will be monitored. Study results won't be known until next summer.
Five European airlines are allowing inflight monitoring, but no U.S. carriers are participating. So, as a passenger, there are things you can look for.
Professor Clement Furlong at the University of Washington says sometimes you can't see a fume event, but you can often smell it. "So, as far as the passengers are concerned, they'd smell what's been described as a dirty sock smell, a vomit smell, a wet dog smell, and then the symptoms they might experience would be headache, nausea, dizziness, shaking, tingling."
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration says: "The concerns raised by crew members about fume events are reasonable and are being investigated. The FAA believes that the cabin environment in the vast majority of commercial flights is safe."
To push the airlines into using different air supplies, Hoyte started a Web site devoted to Aerotoxic Syndrome, http://www.aerotoxic.org/.
<!--END WNStoryBody-->
