Toxic Air??
 

NZ Herald, Monday 11th June 2007

Toxic air in planes under spotlight

And here was me thinking it was just the fact that I was stuck in a sealed metal tube with 300 other people who had all just consumed airline food :yuk:

Wasn't me... it was the errr... the engine! :E

Try flying a BN2 out of some PNG bush strip with a load of Villagers and you'll soon learn just how 'toxic' the air can get!!!:uhoh::eek::yuk:

Mostly it was'nt a case of lack of hygiene but the side effects of diet etc.

Try flying with an instructor in a 152 who's recently consumed a One Square Meal...trapped gases expanding in body cavities........time to review ones daily fibre intake.

Obviously that article failed to mention the old Janitrol heater!! Get your Carbon Monoxide Fix!

Ahh The TCP demon has reared up again. It's a harmless cumulative neurotoxin that scares the hell out of the majors and some minors too. Those goddamn sticky HBOV's causing all that fuss.

There are many schools of thought on this one because it's a big can of liability worms. I do like the MSDS on it though it tells it straight, then you read the conflicting Senate report and the House of Lords study and realise there's big money being spent and get scared and hide.

Ahhhh the good ole OSM... enemy to people in confined places everywhere! :E

I'm thankful my new instructor waits until we get back on the ground before having his!

I know an ex Ansett BAE146 captain who suffered terribly from this, she landed a flight into YBBN one night and barely remembers how, and the F/O had already gone U/S before hand.

They did not get called the gas chamber for nothing! Took a while for that to get fixed I believe!:uhoh:

SQ

I thought that was why we had O2 masks...............

:cool::suspect::cool:

Flybnite

I am not the greatest expert in toxicology by any steatch, but I gather its like carbon monoxide, it takes effect and you do not realise it. I believe but I am not sure, that the O2 was used but it does not give instant relief as does hypoxia. Hypoxia you will recover from quickly, its the lack of O2, but the toxic issue is more serious, you are poisoned and you stay that way for a long time.

It ended her career. Caused a lot of nerve damage and many years to regain even normal family life.

Maybe some others out there in PROON land will have much better details than I do. Bound to be stuff on the net if you search for it, however it was apparently denied and covered up a fair bit at the time.

SQ:ok:

Wow this stuff is old news.

It's standard engineering procedure on many aircraft to "burn out" oil residue contained in the aircon distribution system when it gets noticably stinky by running the aircon at max temp on the ground for a while.

As for the potential of health effects, I am sure it can come down to genetic pre disposition, however I have never seen anyone directly effected by this.

The amount of oil vapour that escapes in to the cabin is nothing like the amount that ground workers are exposed to at every shutdown and startup. Refuellers are almost constantly getting it in the face on A320's, and aside from it's rather unplesant odour and lingering oiliness on your clothes, I can't say I have observed anybody becoming ill from it.

The article describes "chronic health problems, including fatigue, sleep difficulties, fluctuating gastrointestinal problems, numbness and tingling in fingers and toes, memory loss and word-finding difficulties".

Many of these can be explained by the nature of airport work - shift work causes fatigue, sleep problems, memory and cognitive impairment. Tingling fingers & gastronomic issues each have many other causes as well.

Surely New Zulund doesn't need to launch an independent enquiry in to something that has been done to death throughout the rest of the world already !!!!!