Dated 1,
We obedientally take it that the AAIB always leave 'no stone unturned' in their quest to provide ALL of the factors in any serious accident; especially unsolved accidents after many months of digging for clues?
I wrote to them a few months ago asking if the AAIB had checked the pilots blood and fat either at the time or subsequently. I then wrote again about another serious accident at EMA / BHX, with much the same reply.
Apparently as 'It is not the AAIB's policy to routinely subject a surviving crew member to blood/fat tests unless of course, the individual themselves complains of feeling unwell at the time of the occurence'.
***CRASH!*** AAIB "How do you feel?" Surviving pilots "Oh great, thanks!"
Anybody who has experienced the cumulative / acute effects of contaminated air will know the disastrous results it can have on ones performance. Indeed, the AAIB have helpfully published the effects in pilots own words over the years in many other incident reports. The majority obviously go unreported. Here are some 'officially published' descriptive words.
Difficulty concentrating, feeling of fainting, odd pressure in the head, nasal itching and ear pain, felt discomfort and a feeling of ‘moon walking’, mild dizziness, very nauseous, markedly dizzy and groggy, difficulty focussing, light headed and hot, felt progressively worse, tingling feeling in fingertips and arms started shaking, “feeling dreadful”, white face and pupils dilated, hands trembling, double vision, light headed and tired, dazed, headache and eye irritation, blisters inside mouth, tight chest, sore throat for days, coughing, metallic taste in mouth, tingling sensation on lips, errors of judgement and garbled speech, verge of passing out, tunnel vision, loss of balance, loss of feeling in hands and lower arms.
Perhaps by coincidence, chemicals are also found in ones blood and fat - just like an athlete may be hauled over the coals for having specks of performance enhancing drugs in their bodies or drunk drivers are grounded for their known performance degrading effect. Even many affected pilots memories have also been professionally measured as being 'abnormal'.....
Dated 1, i'm with you. Some very non SOP things happened on both those days at LHR and EMA/BHX in extraordinary circumstances and I wouldn't bet that leaving the auto pilot in until the last second in BA 038 was not actual skill - but more like pure luck.
Good for them, all those pilots did a great job in the circumstances. But what were those circumstances. Exactly?
Who thinks that pilots should routinely have their blood / fat tested after such an incident? If only to rule out any question of pilot's being influenced by
anything.
It STILL doesn't add up.
If you are one of the 70% who have never been affected by contaminated air then lucky you; but please have the courtesy of listening to the apparent minority who have experienced the devastating above effects whilst operating a public transport aircraft, often totally unaware of the likely reason.
It can all be very confusing but requires understanding - urgently.
DB
