Toxic fumes incapacitate Germanwings crew
 

A recent interim report from BFU, Germanys Federal Authority for Investigation of Air Accidents, indicates that toxic fumes nearly incapacitated both pilots of a Germanwings Airbus A319 on final to CGN. According to the report, during final turns the crew smelled something they described as "electrical", "sweet", "burning" and "dense", which made them feel dizzy. Although they put on their oxygen masks, they felt dizzy and a tingling sensation and almost passed out. Though heavily incapacitated, they managed to land the airplane and were treated medically. The incident, which the BFU labelled "severe", happened on Dec 19, 2010. Flight was Germanwings 5X018 from Vienna.

Report in German (PDF)

FO was unfit to fly for 6 months afterwards. German safety board BFU got told that crew would be okay and didn't initiate any further investigation first. Only a year later they received additional info and started some investigation.

Media allege cover-up
 

German media reports allege an attempted cover-up by Germanwings. The airline supposedly downplayed the incident when it informed BFU a day after the incident. BFU didn't see grounds for further invetigation then, daily newspaper "Die Welt" says. Only when new information was available a year later a thorough investigation was initiated. [Edit] Cockpit voice recordings had been deleted by then, flight data has been available for investigation.

A speaker for the Lufthansa-subsidiary denied these reports. Both Pilots had been fit to fly throughout the incident, neither ones ability to fly had been incapacitated, the newspaper quotes a Germanwings spokesperson.

According to the preliminary report by BFU, both pilots say otherwise. With the FO nearly unconscious, the Captain was "at the limit of his capacity" and suffering from "tunnel vision", the report says. The plane was coming in too fast on final. "As the Captain felt neither physically nor psychologically able to perform a go-around, he told the Co-Pilot that he would overrule the 1000 feet safety gate" in order to get the plane down a soon as possible.

Similarities
 

I seen this in some of the older posts, it was the day after, looks very similar, Aircraft type too ???


http://www.pprune.org/rumours-news/4...ded-dizzy.html

and the passenger :confused:

What the heck did the smoke consist of??!!

They don't know what the fumes consisted of. Passenger cabin wasn't affected.

Same aircraft (D-AGWK) is said to have had a similar incident a couple of years before (ca 2008) with passengers and cabin crew getting nauseous after inhaling "burny" fumes.

Aircraft has been checked after both events, with no diagnosis. No fire or burning had been detected. According to the report, airline technicians think that fumes might have been caused by de-icing-fluid getting into air intake of one engine.

Autoland not an option ?
 

Quick question as SLF to all professional pilots out there.

Would auto-land not have been a better option in this case, given that the FO was more or less incapacitated and the captain "was at the upper limit of what he was capable to do in his bad bodily shape" (quote from avherald) ?

14L is CATIII and with the A-319 they could have done an auto-land with auto-roll-out down to taxi speed (according to the web).

Thanks for any input.

One engine for the flightdeck air only?

LR and lomapaseo
 

An independent aviation expert and pilot has stated - in German TV 1st channel - that he has studied the briefings of the two CM´s in depth. The captain has stated that the smell appeared to him not to be ingested and burned de-icing fluid but oil !!
Oil - if heated can release some very dangerous chemicals. That´s so his - the experts - statement - is what really happend.
The poisoning scheme of the two pilots fits in an oil contamination and not an de-icing fluid.
Similar - burned oil fumes in tap air - have happened before - with other flights of AB and LH, although the latter seem to denie any comment on that.

As far as I have read the air for the cockpit is normally tapped from the left engine, while the cabin is served from the right. That - if proves correct - will explain why there was nothing detected in the cabin.

Oil fume exposure medical protocol
 

This will help anyone who has been exposed to oil fumes whilst flying:

Medical information

The official word is that there is 'no evidence' of ill health from oil fumes - but also there are officially 31 UK pilots grounded because of 'a suggestion of illness associated with the cabin environment'.

An earlier German TV report:

TCP
 

Latest information spread in german media point towards a TCP - tricresylphosphate - contamination.
It is one of the questions raised here why TCP is withdrawn from use almost everywhere and at the same time is an additive used in jet engine lubricating oil in quantities of up to 5 vol. percent.
here an wikipedia report about that material.
Tricresyl phosphate - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Is this and other toxic fumes checked for in pilots of fatal crashes?
Does it remain in the system and leave a trace?

mickjoebill
 

I don´t know since this was never part of my tasks during the time in Accident&Incident Investigation. However, seen the capabilities of modern Clinical Chemistry I assume it is checked routinely.
As for the case in question, a subtract of data from that BFU report.
The day after the incident the Co-Pilot went to the hospital again. The bloodcheck performed on that day revealed two substantial deviations from standard values:
Creatinase in general 26804 UI - normal value 0 - 170/200 UI
CK MB (heart reference) 270 UI - normal value 0 - 25 UI
Here also another Wikipedia copy:
Creatine kinase - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

What causes most of my concern is the fact that as long as that TCP is added to jet engine oil a similar incident can happen any time any where in the world again.

With "burning" being mentioned wouldn't carbon monoxide be a concern? Doesn't that cause similar symptoms such as tunnel vision?

Carbon Monoxide - Pilots of America Message Board

Why only L.H. failures?
 

Surely if this left hand air supply theory is correct then it can only be a matter of time before a cabinful of S.L.F. become incapacitated, if the R.H. system is the same as the L.H.
However, if the L.H. system differs from the R.H. system, i.e. because one (main cabin) has to be of greater capacity, then the difference should provide a clue to the cause.

Why only on LH ?

and why only a cockpit became a Gas-Chamber ?

Source LH Engine/Pack?

Is more under the carpet then this issue within German Aviation. Time to look closer !