Senior pilots warn that crew and regular passengers could suffer serious
long-term illnesses unless the aviation industry admits jet airliners worldwide
have a critical design flaw.
A Qantas flight engineer was off work for a week after inhaling toxic fumes
on the flight deck of a Boeing 747 flying from Los Angeles to Auckland in July.
WorkCover in NSW issued an improvement order telling the airline to address the
problem.
But The Sun-Herald can reveal it was not a one-off incident, and that
flight crews fear there would be "a disaster" if both pilots were overcome by
fumes during a flight.
Australian & International Pilots Association general manager Peter
Somerville said: "People don't need to stop flying but there is a problem and it
needs to be fixed."
The problem stems from a cost-cutting design in jet aircraft that bleeds warm
air off the engines and pumps it straight into the cabin without any filtration.
If the engine has an oil leak the warm air that enters the cabin is laced with a
chemical called tricresyl phosphate, as well as carcinogens and organophosphates
that attack the nervous system and can result in brain damage.
Air crew are now so concerned about the issue that they have covertly taken
swabs from the walls inside commercial airliners on three continents including
Australia and in 85 per cent of cases found positive traces of the
chemicals.
"It affects the flight crew the most because they receive a lot more oxygen
and they fly more often," Mr Somerville said.
His organisation is funding a project with the RAAF and aircraft engineers to
measure the long-term effects of the toxicants on flight crew.
But Australian Federation of Air Pilots spokesman Lawrie Cox said the
short-term effects could be worse.
"If we get a major incident where two pilots are affected, the outcome would
be a disaster," he said.
In the same month as the 747 incident, a Qantas crew noticed fumes on the
flight deck of a 767 and refused to fly the aircraft. Qantas asked another crew
to fly the jet and they also refused.
WorkCover NSW confirmed it had issued an improvement notice to Qantas on
August 15, "relating to two incidents of fumes on aircraft flight decks".
A Qantas spokesman said: "Instances such as these are extremely rare and we
take them seriously. In accordance with WorkCover requirements we are reviewing
our occupational health and safety procedures and are in the process of
discussing these procedures with our people. WorkCover fully supports this
approach.
Source | www.smh.com.au
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/air-sickness/2007/10/20/1192301100075.html
"There is no evidence to suggest that cabin air quality is an issue in any of
our aircraft."
Former National Jet pilot Susan Michaelis does not agree. The 44-year-old was
forced to retire from flying 10 years ago after regular exposure to toxic fumes
while flying BAe 146 aircraft for QantasLink left her unable to work. She has
compiled a dossier on contaminated air incidents and collaborated with a British
pilot on a documentary called Welcome Aboard Toxic Airlines.
"This is a major scandal on a par with discovering the harmful effects of
smoking or asbestos," she said.
Much of the research has concentrated on the well-documented problems with
the BAe 146 but "aerotoxic syndrome" has been recorded by crews on more modern
jets, including Boeing 747, 757 and 767 planes. The Civil Aviation Safety
Authority (CASA) confirmed six cases of oil fumes filling cabins last year. But
Ms Michaelis believes many more instances are "swept under the carpet".
"Contaminated air is a serious health and flight safety issue," she said.
"Why does CASA refuse to listen to doctors, scientists and independent
researchers - the people who know the issue?"
University of NSW toxicologist Professor Chris Winder confirmed cabin crews
on airlines worldwide had covertly swabbed jets and proved toxicants were
present.
"The industry has been running silent on this issue," he said. "They need to
acknowledge it is a problem. Oils in jet engines are toxic. It's OK if they stay
in engines but if it comes out of the engine and gets into the bleed air system,
crew, pilots and passengers can get sick."
CASA spokesman Peter Gibson said: "No health and safety authority anywhere in
the world has anything to prove there is any danger."
He said that despite the six reported cases of noxious fumes filling aircraft
cabins last year, the matter was not covered by CASA because it did not
represent an immediate threat to airline safety.
Boeing refused to accept the scale of the problem and would only briefly
comment on the latest Qantas incident. A spokesman said: "It is a matter related
to WorkCover and the people they are seeking to protect."
