hoggsnortrupert
21st Oct 2007, 23:53
T/log,Engr's & Techs,Safety,Q's, Nah! dump it in here?
Toxic fumes on planes put passengers at risk
SYDNEY — Flight crews have been overcome by toxic fumes on Australian airliners, in what has been described as a potential disaster.
Senior pilots have warned that crew and regular passengers could suffer serious long-term illnesses unless the aviation industry admits jet airliners worldwide have a critical design flaw, The Sun-Herald has reported.
The paper said 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, and WorkCover in New South Wales issued an improvement order telling the airline to address the problem.
But The Sun-Herald said it was not a one-off incident and flight crews feared there would be “a disaster” if both pilots were overcome by fumes.
“People don’t need to stop flying but there is a problem and it needs to be fixed,” Australian and International Pilots Association general manager Peter Somerville said.
He said the problem stemmed from a cost-cutting design in jet aircraft that bled warni air off the engines and
pumped it straight into the cabin without any filtration. If the engine had an oil leak, the warm air that entered the cabin was laced with a chemical called tricresyl phosphate, as well as carcinogens and organophosphates that attacked the nervous system and could result in brain damage.
Air crews 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% of cases found positive traces of the chemicals.
Somerville’s organisation is funding a project with the RAM’ and aircraft engineers to measure the long-term effects of the fumes 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, 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, the paper says. AAP :uhoh::uhoh:
Chr's
H/Snort
Toxic fumes on planes put passengers at risk
SYDNEY — Flight crews have been overcome by toxic fumes on Australian airliners, in what has been described as a potential disaster.
Senior pilots have warned that crew and regular passengers could suffer serious long-term illnesses unless the aviation industry admits jet airliners worldwide have a critical design flaw, The Sun-Herald has reported.
The paper said 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, and WorkCover in New South Wales issued an improvement order telling the airline to address the problem.
But The Sun-Herald said it was not a one-off incident and flight crews feared there would be “a disaster” if both pilots were overcome by fumes.
“People don’t need to stop flying but there is a problem and it needs to be fixed,” Australian and International Pilots Association general manager Peter Somerville said.
He said the problem stemmed from a cost-cutting design in jet aircraft that bled warni air off the engines and
pumped it straight into the cabin without any filtration. If the engine had an oil leak, the warm air that entered the cabin was laced with a chemical called tricresyl phosphate, as well as carcinogens and organophosphates that attacked the nervous system and could result in brain damage.
Air crews 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% of cases found positive traces of the chemicals.
Somerville’s organisation is funding a project with the RAM’ and aircraft engineers to measure the long-term effects of the fumes 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, 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, the paper says. AAP :uhoh::uhoh:
Chr's
H/Snort