B757 Flight Deck Contamination - Toxic Fumes
I have just been made aware of a campaign and research being conducted by BALPA, (an excellent free CD is available) it makes for disturbing reading/viewing
There is growing worldwide evidence of contamination of the flight deck and aircraft cabin due to fumes generated by engine and APU oil, which on occasions, finds it's way into the aircraft's ventilation system, certain aircraft types are more prone than others, the worst offenders are as follows:
B757
Bae 146
MD80
And others such as B737 & A320
These fumes are highly toxic and dangerous, often manifestering itself as a smell, not too dissimilar to smelly feet/socks, vomit type smell, bluish mist, I have experienced these signs many times during my career in commercial jet flying, spanning some 25 years, but until now, perhaps like many pilots, I was blissfully ignorant to the significance of these smells.
There are short and long term effects of these 'fumes', in the short term (within minutes); the flight crew can experience severe headaches, dry throat, nausea, disorientation, intoxication, diarrhoea, stinging eyes, positional awareness, light-headiness, tunnel vision, fatigue and dizziness
In the longer term; chronic fatigue, memory problems, pneumonia, lung cancer, higher rates of other types of cancers, MS, Parkinson Disorders, the list goes on
To highlight this problem, I have obtained a recent list of reports ASRs/MORs made by British Airways pilots over the last few years, this list outlines 'fume events' on the B757 aircraft of BA, with dates, aircraft registrations and CAA reference numbers, with comments by the pilots, here is a small sample of the many reports ;
'During third sector P1 & P2" experienced burning of eyes & throat'
'P2 felt nauseous & member of cabin crew experienced eye irritation'
'P1 felt dizzy/light headed, both flight crew donned oxygen masks'
'Tunnel vision, disorientation, dizziness experienced on arrival'
'Both Flight crew and 1 cabin crew experienced nausea'
'Both felt light headed. On shut down, both pilots still felt light headed and also shaky'
'Both crew felt nausea and had headaches'
'V. strong smell of oil from air-conditioning'
'Oil contamination of aircraft. Long history of this problem'
'Flight deck air contaminated with oil 'P1 & P2 dizzy'
'Crew unaware that they were becoming partially incapacitated, P1 then forgot to slow a/c'
'O2 used'
'Crew both felt headed with a shortness of breath, coughing & unable to breath normally'
There are special contamination filters that can be fitted to these B757 aircraft, however, the fit is expensive and BA did not take up this option
I understand that these same B757s (44) were acquired by DHL Air and converted to cargo configuration, though, again, the contamination filter option was not fitted.
In the interests of flight safety and pilot health, I have listed below the following aircraft registrations, which have a known history of 'fume events'
G-BIKR G-BMRG G-CPEL
G-BIKS G-CPER G-BPEE
G-BIKO G-BMRH G-BPED
G-BIKY G-BMRA G-CPES
G-BIKT G-CPEO G-CPER
G-BIKC G-BMRI G-CPEN
G-BIKV G-BPEC G-BPEI
G-BIKL G-BPEK G-BMRF
G-BIKG G-BPEJ G-BMRB
G-BIKN G-CPET G-BMRD
G-BIKV G-CPEM
If you fly or are about to fly any of the aircraft listed above and find yourself smelling these toxic fumes you would be well advised to think again, of course it is up to individual pilots.
It takes a brave man to stand up to a company and say 'I will not fly this aircraft' but your health and well-being should come before everything else.
Majorbyte