The Aerotoxic Syndrome coverup

There have been several threads written on ATS about Aerotoxic Syndrome over the years, but this is probably the most blatant coverup to date of the problem. Air crews have been complaining for years about this problem but it's only recent begun to be studied seriously, and that only because several pilots have died due to complications of TAS, and quite a few have had their medical revoked and never flew again after a TAS flight.

On January 16th, 2010, US Airways 767-200 N251AY was on approach to Charlotte, from Saint Thomas, when the crew requested that the flight be met at the gate by medical assistance. Prior to beginning the approach, the purser had entered the cockpit and asked the pilots if they were feeling ok. A number of passengers and cabin crew had reported a "gym sock/old locker/dirty laundry" type smell, and that they weren't feeling well. Both pilots looked at each other in surprise, and noticed that their eyes were extremely red. At that point, they noticed that they were showing symptoms of headache, stiff neck, and having to concentrate harder on simple tasks, along with other symptoms.

The aircraft was met by ambulances, and during the initial examination for carbon monoxide poisoning (which was later ruled out due to the odor), and the pilots were put on oxygen. Two and a half hours later, at the hospital both pilots showed extremely elevated levels of carboxyhemoglobin. Both pilots reported the headache lasted approximately a week, with the stiffness, sore throat, and red eyes lasted a week to 10 days, while the fatigue never went away. Both pilots were examined later, and showed reduced respiratory pulmonary function. As a result of this incident, they lost their medical and never flew again. The pilot died this month, reportedly as a result of complications to this incident.

In March of 2010, US Airways confirmed oil had leaked into the bleed air system, causing the January incident. In all there were a total of 17 people taken to the hospital between December of 2009, and January of 2010, after flying on this aircraft. One crew member on the January 16th flight returned to work. Between December 2009, and January 2010 it was reported that 8 pilots and cabin crew were unable to return to work, after flying on this aircraft. On March 17th, 2010 another incident occurred, this time blamed on bad aft door seals. That makes a total of four fume incidents between December 2009, and March 2010.

Now here's where it gets interesting. A search of both the FAA and NTSB database, shows 0 fume events for that time period, and no records for N251AY. There's been previous evidence of keeping Toxic Air Syndrome, and bleed air leaks quiet, but this is the first time that it has appeared to be this blatant.

avherald.com...

Not all of these are Aerotoxic Syndrome, but it gives an idea of how prevalent the problem of people getting sick on an aircraft really is.

avherald.com...

aerotoxic.org...

www.collective-evolution.com...

This might help if you are truly interested, goes back a bit. In this area whisper jets get the come uppence.
Just happens the whisper jet is a nice plane to fly in and loads of room in the ones Jersey airlines used, BAe 146 I think.

erotoxic.org/wp-content/uploads/Aerotoxic-Syndrome-Book.pdf

I don't suppose it would be to much of a surprise if I said being at the tail end of a 727 the 'burnt' fuel fumes at pushback are not so nice, in fact not nice at all.

a reply to: Zaphod58

What do you mean when you say losing "their medical"? I have heard of it used as a noun meaning "a medical check-up at the doctor's office"...but the way you use it in your post, it sounds like "a medical waiver to fly" or something. Could you clarify?

The gym sock smell sounds almost like a mold chemical. Possibly a sulfide from some sort of cleaning solution leaking onto something hot. That heated aerosol could even be coming from an air conditioner element that is molded. Or a refrigerant leak mixing with some other chemistry could also produce that smell. It could be coming from multiple systems in the jet.

You would think they should have been able to figure that out within the first two incidents, they are just making up possible excuses without actually digging deep enough. I wonder how many passengers actually had problems afterwards and haven't put two and two together.

I suppose the fumes from exhaust could be interacting with other chemistries to make that smell also.

a reply to: SomethingLingual

All pilots are required to pass a physical to get their license. They have to renew that physical every couple of years. The pilots in this incident were unable to pass their physicals again, due to the fumes that they were exposed to, and were unable to fly again.

www.faa.gov...

a reply to: rickymouse

Probably quite a few. Most people, exposed once or twice, aren't going to have any long term effects, but there are some that are going to be affected their entire lives, and may not even think twice about something like this being the cause.

One of the problems with the bleed air system, is that on many engines, the seal for the oil system requires air pressure to keep it tight. If there's not enough air pressure, the seal doesn't lock in place, and allows oil to leak into the system.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Awesome, thanks for the details!

a reply to: Zaphod58

The smell described, immediately made me think of burning oil/rubber.

a reply to: Wide-Eyes

It usually appears to be oil. It's almost impossible to find a bleed air leak though. You can run the engine on the ground for hours, and not have a single leak, because the air pressure was enough to cause a good seal. Put it back in the air, and it leaks again.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Yeah, figures.

a reply to: Wide-Eyes

The 787 that Boeing recently put into service is the first aircraft to use a non-bleed air system. It uses an electrical system to provide pressurization, instead of bleed air. With luck, more aircraft will follow that method.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Until the electronics screw up lol.

a reply to: Wide-Eyes

Better than breathing organophosphates for hours.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Very true.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Thanks for bringing this up, some of us including me, had never heard of it before.

A British Airways A380 recently made an emergency landing in Vancouver after departing San Francisco. The cabin crew became extremely disoriented, argumentative, and several had to be put on oxygen. All 20 cabin crew and three pilots were taken to the hospital, and one later collapsed after getting to London.

A passenger has also reported to be suffering from headaches since the event.

www.msn.com...

a reply to: Zaphod58
Just imagine if all pilots aboard an A380 became so disabled/disoriented during a flight due to such an event that they were no longer able to manage the plane.

The world's biggest airliner, and no-one on board who can aviate it, let alone land it?

Scary stuff.

Also, it's curious that all cabin crew were so affected that they were taken to hospital, but only one passenger reported issues. That supports the concept of cumulative effects for aircraft crew. It makes me wonder if there is some specific toxin that is retained in the body or only metabolized slowly, but whose effects are not apparent until a critical "dose" is reached.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Doesn't Legionnaires Disease come from a mold that looks and feels oily? I wonder if there's more to this then just engine oil bleed. Something like mold in the air system, or do those systems get cleaned regularly?

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: SomethingLingual

All pilots are required to pass a physical to get their license. They have to renew that physical every couple of years. The pilots in this incident were unable to pass their physicals again, due to the fumes that they were exposed to, and were unable to fly again.

www.faa.gov...

That is true for general aviation pilots...However a 121 air carrier captain has to pass a first class physical every 6 months and a first officer every year to maintain the ability to exercise their ATP (airline transport license privileges).

a reply to: JustMike

The few studies I've seen indicate it's cumulative, which is why so few passengers report chronic problems after an event, yet several crew members have died from complications related to exposure.

There are a couple specific neurotoxins that have been identified that are pretty nasty, especially as they build up.