Sea Kings and asbestos

[Nige321]

As reported on the BBC (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-45313394) and the Daily Mail (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6098759/Thousands-engineers-feared-inhaled-deadly-chemicals-working-Sea-King-helicopters.html)
My cousin flew Wessex and Sea King in the Australian Navy.
He died of asbestosis, but this was attributed to dust from lagged pipes running above his bunk....

Military staff who worked on Sea King helicopters are being warned they may have been exposed to asbestos.The Ministry of Defence is urgently removing parts suspected of containing the harmful material from its aircraft, which have been in service since 1969.The Mail on Sunday (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6098759/Thousands-engineers-feared-inhaled-deadly-chemicals-working-Sea-King-helicopters.html) reports thousands of engineers may be affected, but pilots - who have included members of the royal family - are not said to be at risk.An MoD spokeswoman said the safety of personnel was "our highest priority".

[RNFAA1990]

I’ve just read this article with interest as a former Sea King Engineer in the FAA but bizarrely cannot find anything published by the MOD...........

Nice to see that all of the press have made sure to note the Royals having flown these aircraft (as this is of major and significant importance in the circumstances ???) but have not sought to provide links from the MOD for those Engineers potentially affected to make contact to find out more .......... typical British press ! About as helpful as a broken leg !

[Apprentice Yoda]

It would help to know what parts, and is the S61 similarly affected?

[3D CAM]

I read somewhere, Faceache perhaps, that the Sea Kings cabin roof panels were the problem, or part of it. My Sea King memory is 40 years ago but if I remember correctly they were rigid/ish and had some kind of padding behind, probably wrong though. My S61 time is more recent, ten years ago but 30 years on them. The cabin trim was totally differerent and made of different materials depending on the maker, I remember quilted trim that weighed next to nothing, except when oil soaked, to full Metair (blimey that name came from down deep) that was the dogs whatsits at the time. I recall that had some sort of rigid foam backing fronted by vinyl?? on metal frames. Whether asbestos was used anywhere in any of the 61s remains to be seen. I am sure Mr. Bristows top boys will be looking into it along with CHCs and all other 61 operators. Time will tell, probably too late for some people sadly.
3D

[skadi]

May be the bleedairpipes for the heating system in the cabin? As far as I remember the pipes around the mixing lever have some sort of heatresistant insulation.

skadi

[John Eacott]

May be the bleedairpipes for the heating system in the cabin? As far as I remember the pipes around the mixing lever have some sort of heatresistant insulation.

skadi

Heating? We would have swapped a golden rivet for heating ;) :p :rolleyes:

[skadi]

Heating? We would have swapped a golden rivet for heating ;) :p :rolleyes:

:ok: Yes John, you're right! Too cold in the front seats, too hot especially at the operators seat, they were always complaining...

skadi

[John Eacott]

:ok: Yes John, you're right! Too cold in the front seats, too hot especially at the operators seat, they were always complaining...

skadi

skadi, we didn’t have a heater; neither front nor back in our RN ASW cabs.

[[email protected]]

The heating just stank of comp wash fluid and it always concerned me that the carbon monoxide levels might be quite high in the air from it.

The heater pipes came down from the engines to a 90-degree elbow with a valve on it - this has been known to fracture and blow off, leaving a ton of shredded soundproofing and a really loud noise that you can't turn off! I know one crew that came close to crashing when it happened to them at night and they didn't know what had gone wrong.

[Thomas coupling]

No mention of the lads in the back! They spent their entire flying lives sitting in amongst this 'stuff'.
Of course it's only made headlines 'cos of you know who?

[skadi]

The heating just stank of comp wash fluid and it always concerned me that the carbon monoxide levels might be quite high in the air from it.

Cause its bleedair and not combusted air the CO level should be of no concern

skadi

[jimf671]

I’ve just read this article with interest as a former Sea King Engineer in the FAA but bizarrely cannot find anything published by the MOD...........
...

Do you think that there might have been some form of restriction on its circulation? :rolleyes:

[heli1]

We seem to have drifted off thread ...surely someone here knows where the asbestos was?

[diginagain]

There's a DIN doing the rounds, apparently. Which is handy...

[212man]

Cause its bleedair and not combusted air the CO level should be of no concern

skadi
pretty sure there’s not much CO coming out of the combusted mixture either!

[[email protected]]

Cause its bleedair and not combusted air the CO level should be of no concern that's what they said many years ago about the problems of the exhaust gases and particulates - 'the wrong size to cause health issues' they said - it's the same particulates that are being blamed fro inner city pollution and poor air quailty.....

Having the heating on for extended periods always left me feeling flush-faced and with a slight headache - classic symptoms of mild CO poisoning - some of the air came from around the combustion chamber ISTR.

[Sir Niall Dementia]

that's what they said many years ago about the problems of the exhaust gases and particulates - 'the wrong size to cause health issues' they said - it's the same particulates that are being blamed fro inner city pollution and poor air quailty.....

Having the heating on for extended periods always left me feeling flush-faced and with a slight headache - classic symptoms of mild CO poisoning - some of the air came from around the combustion chamber ISTR.

And one reason why North Sea cabs had to have a ten minute dry run before flying with pax due to the risk of poisoning them, pilots and engineers were a different species apparently.

SND

[Adam Nams]

The heater pipes came down from the engines to a 90-degree elbow with a valve on it - this has been known to fracture and blow off, leaving a ton of shredded soundproofing and a really loud noise that you can't turn off!

Which lead, I believe, to the quote from the pilot to the Radop (who was standing between the pilot seats):
"Crikey Eric, I thought that you had exploded!"

[John Eacott]

According to this Defence Instruction, it applies to all marks of Sea King so the heater is a distraction. Not fitted to all marks.


https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/720x902/80-40279533_10213028531288574_7244144875136876544_n_eb172218a19 88340e31e58ede0d9072e420e145b.jpg

[Chris P Bacon]

The Italian Government have a requirement to remove all asbestos components from the military and paramilitary aircraft. We have been taking "suspect" seals, gaskets and pipework clamps from the Rolls Royce M250 and PWC PT6T engine for a long time

[Pablo332]

Heater exhaust gaskets seems the obvious culprit. More of a problem for people maintaining the system.

[Magnetic]

The Asbestos is in the shrouded oil lines in the engine bay. If you go to the pprune millitary section there is a link within the seaking topic.

The report also mentions toluene (lots of chemicals) and diclooromethane (paint stripper) as likely causes of early death and high cancer rates amongst seaking mechs.

It does not mention 61's but I would assume the same depending on engine build dates?

[minigundiplomat]

What's happening with the commercially operated MOD airframes for the German Navy?

[Schinthe]

An ex RN LAM friend of mine from Bristow and Army Air Corps days, died of asbestosis some years ago. We all scratched our heads and wondered how he could have contracted it at the time. It would be interesting to know if possible how many other ex 'fairies' succumbed, and how long this has been known about?