US Airways - Electrical smell sends 9 to hospital

[GarageYears]

(CNN) -- Nine people were taken to a hospital Tuesday after complaining of a foul odor aboard a US Airways flight in Charlotte, North Carolina, according to the airline.
US Airways Flight 985 was bound for Montego Bay, Jamaica, the airline said. It had pushed back from the gate and was taxiing on the ramp when an electrical smell was reported in the cabin, Federal Aviation Administration (http://topics.cnn.com/topics/Federal_Aviation_Administration) spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said.
Paramedics were called, and "two pilots, five flight attendants and two passengers are seeking medical attention as a precaution," US Airways (http://topics.cnn.com/topics/US_Airways_Group_Inc) spokeswoman Michelle Mohr said.


Question is - Do any of these incidents ever result in discovery of the cause? Generally an electrical smell bad enough to send several folk to the hospital has to be the result of some nasty heating going where it shouldn't. :hmm:

- GY

[Finn47]

Similar problems with the same 767 have happened earlier, it says here:

9 taken to NC hospital after bad smell on airplane - Yahoo! News (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100316/ap_on_bi_ge/us_airplane_fumes)

[sharksandwich]

I wonder if all strange smells are described as "electrical"? I would guess that would be the quickest way to get the plane grounded and checked (for safety reasons).
I hadn't really thought about it before, but there must be a number of contaminents which could get into a closed pressure system.

[pattern_is_full]

This particular airframe just seems to be snakebit as regards the cabin bleed air supply. Hydraulic vapor, fuel vapor, and - whatever - this smell was this time.

[Microburst2002]

If it was hydraulic, they can have health problems for life!

[rottenray]

Pat is Full writes:

This particular airframe just seems to be snakebit as regards the cabin bleed air supply.

The plane should prolly go in for a major at this point, especially the engines and bleed ducting.

I can see a puddle of slime composed of oil vapors, hyd, and fuel remnants sitting in a duct somewhere, just kept in place by frequent "high winds" passing over it, and emitting a bit of stink now and then.


As far as "electrical" smell, it's been too many years since the average consumer has smelled anything "electrical" for them to make an honest assessment.

Go back to the days of vacuum tube tele and radio, yes, then the average Joe could spot an electrical smell.

Burning capacitors, ozone from high voltage supplies arcing and shorting, the smell of hot, hot wax...

Now?

Hell, some stir-fry Asian food has a slightly electrical smell to it. Sesame oil + peanut oil + celery @ 400F = electrical smell.

Nearly the same as the insulation on the AC (mains) wiring in one's home when it is overloaded and heated.

Hope they decide to / and get it / sorted before it makes the news too many more times...

[cwatters]

"two pilots, five flight attendants and two passengers"

Is that mix due to the source of the problem, the emptyness of the flight or that crew know a bit of smoke can be more serious than it appears health wise?

[N707ZS]

Hot bakelite just like bad kippers.:O

[Mr Optimistic]

'Nearly the same as the insulation on the AC (mains) wiring in one's home when it is overloaded and heated.'

Sounds like an opportunity to install some fuses or breakers.

[Graybeard]

I believe it was a Martinair 767 about 15 years ago that gradually lost electrics crossing to US from AMS, and landed in Boston with almost nothing working. I don't know if they ever found the cause. Does anybody remember it?

GB

[cactusbusdrvr]

The company is saying that the fumes were from the #2 engine starting. The right rear door seals were not tight as the arcraift was not pressurized and the fumes seeped in through the gap. The recirc fans then distributed those fumes throughout the cabin.

Just sayin'. This is the company line. Feel free to shoot this down.

[lomapaseo]

The company is saying that the fumes were from the #2 engine starting. The right rear door seals were not tight as the arcraift was not pressurized and the fumes seeped in through the gap. The recirc fans then distributed those fumes throughout the cabin.

Just sayin'. This is the company line. Feel free to shoot this down.

engines smell on start-up:confused:

with all the experience on PPRune who could describe the smell?

[ACA856]

"Sesame oil + peanut oil + celery @ 400F = electrical smell"

My wife says that's 'normal, shuddap and eat it'.

[gbour]

I am sure a lot of Swissair 111 crew & pax would just have loved to post similar stories about that very kind of smell. Except that...

[FairWeatherFlyer]

I was a passenger on an Emirates flight a few years ago and smelt a very faint burning insulation smell - not the most comforting smell when you know you're an hour over water! I discreetly asked about it... turned out to be a seal on one of their ovens.

[Flight Detent]

.....except that they didn't have a flight engineer aboard!!!

[Apollo30]

I just searched at ASRS database (ASRS - Aviation Safety Reporting System (http://asrs.arc.nasa.gov)) for incident reports concerning "fume"-incidents (text contains ...) and I found 64. I don't know if this number is high or low, but when you start reding, the all sound nearly the same as described here. Sometimes more, sometimes less severe....