Measurement appropriate?
Given the constant risk of cabin air contamination events, the potential hazards bad air presents to safety of the persons on board and the aircraft, and the operational costs associated with appropriate response to these events, I wonder if it is not time now to consider use of some continuous air quality monitoring technology as part of the standard configuration for passenger ops.
For older aircraft and smaller aircraft, a "signature" analysis type of monitoring device might be more appropriate. This could be an easy-install or even a small portable unit that would monitor the air continuously or 'as required'. It would assess air samples for perhaps two dozen specific contaminants and would provide some ongoing indication of trends in contaminant concentration. The indications given could include both good-bad readings for situation identification and more detailed readings for simple qualitative analysis of the health hazard and probable source.
Larger and more modern aircraft could incorporate more sophisticated air quality monitors that would do as above and could also couple to the maintenance down-link capability for more detailed analysis by experts on the ground.
The function of these devices would be to provide better real-time risk assessment and decision support for the aircrew in order to manage these seemingly inevitable situations as well as possible. Relative to the cost of precautionary diversions, repacking inflatable ramps, and other potential consequences of inflight smoke events, the installation, support and life costs for highly functional diagnostic air quality monitoring systems would be a very modest and likely would result in a net long-term saving for the operators. In any case, the incremental cost of meaningful air quality data relative to health and safety would be a tiny fraction of the onboard entertainment system expenses.
Last edited by arcniz; 12th August 2008 at 02:12.