
How safe is air quality on commercial planes? - otoolep
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-32786537/
======
omegant
I´m commercial pilot and from my 16 years experience, breathing toxic fumes
has never been a real issue for crew members. The rate of medical discharges
due to respiratory illness is equal or lower than I you can see in normal
population (just my experience). We never talk about it, nor consider it a
health factor.

It´s true there is a moment when the engines start (there is fuel vapor that
is not being burnt at the very beginning) when you can smell strong fuel
fumes, they make their way to the packs (air conditioning system) but it only
smells for a minute or so.

Crews are very, very, VERY sensitive to smells, the worst emergency you can
suffer in flight is a fire or smoke (electrical are the worst). We are always
trying to discover and track any weird smell. We have procedures to isolate an
air conditioning if it´s the cause of the smell or smoke (sometimes it
happens).

So no, I don´t think air quality it´s an issue in commercial planes. The air
is very dry, and the recirculation and cabin altitude of 5k to 8k feet that
create a lower oxygen partial pressure, in my opinion these are bigger factors
in how you feel in flight than isolated contaminations.

Also I must note that some flight attendants have some kind of urban legend
were they come to cockpit and check the Flight level we are flying, then if
it´s high (above FL320 or so) they start complaining about hipoxia and how
tired they feel. Usually there is little difference in cabin pressure between
FL320 and let´s say FL380, for example the cabin will keep around 8k feet for
an Airbus A320 and 5k feet for an airbus A340 (cabin altitude is lower). I´ve
tried several times to see if I can feel the difference somehow, but it´s
almost impossible. I guess you need an aerobic test to feel it, or having some
hipoxic condition due to an illness.

I wouldn't be surprised if the people complaining from the quality of the air
is the same one that complains of cabin altitude. But maybe they are right and
there is an aerotoxic syndrome, I´m interested in seeing the results of a
study.

Personally I´m still more concerned about timezone changes 4-5 times a month,
accumulated radiation, being bitten by malaria mosquito (when flying to
Caribbean or Africa)or simply a van accident when being carried from the hotel
to the airport.

Edit: typo and clarification.

~~~
neurotech1
A similar thing happened with the F-22A Raptor. Pilots reported breathing
difficulties, and for a while the "experts" were sure it was some exotic
chemical toxin in the air supply.

After much investigation, it was confirmed as a combination of a faulty
BRAG(Breathing Regulator & Anti-G) valve and poor breathing technique. The
proximate physical condition is known as 'Acceleration Atelectasis' which is a
lung issue resulting from the incorrect breathing technique under High-Gs.

IMO a combination of fatigue, and a relatively high cabin altitude (8k feet)
could easily account for the symptoms these crew are reporting.

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Someone1234
Can I just say, this is a really well written article. Great diagrams,
explanations, and it gives both sides fairly well. Even for the BBC this is
top class journalism.

~~~
hammock
Small thing about the diagrams, they depict a four-engine aircraft which only
make up about 5% of commercial aircraft in service

~~~
kijin
They're talking about British Airways, the world's largest operator of Boeing
747.

According to Wikipedia [1], the four-engine 747 and A380 comprise over 20% of
BA's fleet, way above the worldwide average. The percentage of four-engine
aircraft on BA's long-haul routes are likely to be even higher, and it's those
long-haul routes that the people mentioned in the article are worried the most
about.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Airways#Fleet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Airways#Fleet)

------
hammock
>The only exception being the new Boeing 787, which uses "bleed-free
technology".

More detail on this: "In the no-bleed architecture, electrically driven
compressors provide the cabin pressurization function, with fresh air brought
onboard via dedicated cabin air inlets."
[http://www.boeing.com/commercial/aeromagazine/articles/qtr_4...](http://www.boeing.com/commercial/aeromagazine/articles/qtr_4_07/article_02_1.html)

Say what you will about the 787 but it has brought a number of innovations to
aircraft that will probably live on eventually in future models.

~~~
pcl
_Say what you will about the 787_

Sounds like you've got a somewhat negative view of the 787; I'd love to hear
more. I haven't read much in the way of 787 reviews, but my experience as a
passenger on them have been great thus far.

~~~
UVB-76
See:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_787_Dreamliner#Incident...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_787_Dreamliner#Incidents)

~~~
pcl
Thanks... I had forgotten about the fires etc.

------
learnstats2
I was on a flight recently and something smelled... wrong. So I asked the
cabin crew about it.

"Oh, you're probably just smelling jet fuel. Once it burns off the smell will
go away. No big deal," said the cabin crew.

I did not feel soothed by this.

~~~
sliverstorm
My favorite will always be a large quarter-circle a few feet in radius taken
out of the trailing corner of a control surface on the wing, visible from the
cabin windows, with a large arrow & inscription in sharpie saying "WE KNOW
ABOUT THIS"

~~~
el_benhameen
That's both hilarious and terrifying. When was this? And on what airline?

~~~
ubernostrum
About a week ago British tabloids ran all sorts of "TERROR IN THE SKIES"
stories because someone snapped a photo of a maintenance crew applying speed
tape[1] to a plane, and thought they'd duct-taped a broken plane back
together.

Every so often someone posts a photo of a plane with a missing winglet and
asks why it was allowed to fly when "the wing was broken" (missing a winglet
will do nothing except decrease fuel efficiency a bit).

Lots of really silly posts happen because people don't know much about
airplanes.

[1]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_tape](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_tape)

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theophrastus
This is an important article about the dangers of engine chemicals mixing with
the cabin air. There's also the airplane air quality issue not referenced in
this article about the recirculation filters against spreading airborne
microbes. Who hasn't heard someone say "you always get a cold 3-5 days after
taking an airflight". There must be articles about the epidemiology of
airflight. (rate of appearance of novel virus serotypes around Atlanta, and
Hillingdon, London, for example)

~~~
uhokay
Regarding the air quality issue, there was the 17 year old who won the
International Science Fair for his air circulation invention:
[http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2015/05/16/bc-student-
win...](http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2015/05/16/bc-student-
wins-75000-top-prize-at-worlds-largest-high-school-science-fair.html)

------
nate_meurer
Careful! In order to cut costs, airlines mix nitrogen into the air they pump
into the plane, almost 50% sometimes!

(archived from vani hari, the "food babe":)

[http://www.freezepage.com/1415667665TBMRBWICKU](http://www.freezepage.com/1415667665TBMRBWICKU)

Someone here needs to invent a mask that can filter out all that nitrogen

~~~
LukaAl
Is that a joke? Normal breathable air is made of 78% nitrogen and 21% oxygen
([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmosphere_of_Earth](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmosphere_of_Earth)).
Thanks god is not all oxygen otherwise you will catch fire in practically 0
seconds. On the pressurization that compress your body. But the problem is,
they pressurize the plane to the same level of between 3000-6000 feet. It is
less then the pressure you usually feel. So doesn't make sense.

~~~
cheald
You are so _obviously_ a shill of Big Nitrogen. How do you sleep at night?

~~~
nate_meurer
You cannot prove it, besides I can tell you obviously work for the airlines.

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cgtyoder
If a news headline is phrased as a question, it's almost certainly click bait.
If it is about politics, it definitely is.

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notacoward
If cabin fumes impair brain functioning, that would explain a lot of what I've
seen/heard from the kinds of people who travel all the time.

~~~
rdrey
What have you seen/heard?

