Most crew would say that they have experienced some kind of fume event during their flying careers. From strange smells to cabins filling with haze and smoke, these events can vary in severity.
Now, a damning investigation and report by The Wall Street Journal has reignited attention to the issue, claiming that some of these more serious events have caused nerve and brain damage to pilots and cabin crew.
The number of cases has increased in recent years. One of the biggest culprits is the Airbus A320, used by countless airlines around the world, including easyJet and British Airways here in the UK. Airlines that operate both the A320 and Boeing 737 have reported that the former experiences seven times the number of fume events as its European rival.
The report says that, in line with the increase in events, there has been a surge in symptoms similar to Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE). This progressive brain disease is usually found in people who take part in contact sports.
Recent Events
In February this year, a British Airways flight from Dubai to London was forced to return to Dubai around an hour into the flight after several passengers and crew members fell ill due to fumes entering the cabin. BA said in a statement that the diversion had been caused by “a minor technical issue.”
Also in February, a Delta Air Lines Boeing 717, flying from Georgia to South Carolina, was forced to declare an emergency and divert to Atlanta after thick white smoke poured into the cabin through the air vents. The crew onboard told passengers to breathe through their clothing and stay low.
Meanwhile, in June, an easyJet flight, flying from Paphos to Bristol, was forced to divert to Izmir in Turkey due to a “smoke-like smell” being reported in the cabin. All 169 passengers and six crew members were disembarked safely after emergency services met the jet as a precautionary measure.
“Dirty Feet” Aroma
A crew member who flew for JetBlue, Florence Chesson, said she was left with a traumatic brain injury and permanent nerve damage after inhaling contaminated air during a flight to Puerto Rico on board an A320 in December 2017.
Chesson told the Wall Street Journal that the leak started with the aroma of “dirty feet” taking hold through the cabin. She started feeling as though she had been spiked with a drug before another colleague saw her struggling to breathe.
She then started vomiting. When they touched down, two of her colleagues were rushed to the hospital before the jet set off for another flight. Florence was left feeling dazed, covered in sweat, and experiencing an overwhelming taste of metal in her mouth. “I felt like I was talking gibberish,” she explained. “I remember being very repetitive, saying, ‘What just happened to me? What just happened to me?”
She described how the next morning, she woke up feeling like her brain was on fire. Over the following months, her symptoms worsened, and she was eventually diagnosed with permanent nervous system damage. Her doctor, Rober Kaniecki, said the damage to her brain was “extraordinarily similar” to that of NFL players who had suffered CTE from a blow to the head.
Kaniecki has treated 12 pilots and 100 attendants who have shown similar injuries after being exposed to fumes over the past 20 years.
A Wizz Air senior cabin crew member, Florentina Tudor, reported around ten fume events the year before she was suspended and later dismissed from the ultra-low-cost carrier. She said a captain dismissed a sick colleague as “just pretending” before medics carried the attendant away. “At some point, I asked myself, is it just me, am I paranoid?” Tudor added.
What The Manufacturers Have Said
Airbus and Boeing have admitted that oil and hydraulic fluid can leak from engines and, under extreme heat, be vaporised, which would then release toxic compounds into the aircraft’s air supply system.
In 2017, an internal email from Boeing revealed in a lawsuit that the manufacturer’s quality inspector, Steven Reiman, had warned that oil leaks could make “aircrew sick to the point of death.”
Boeing has responded by saying that “the cabin air inside Boeing aeroplanes is safe.” Airbus, meanwhile, said its jets meet “all relevant and applicable airworthiness requirements.” However, the manufacturer has announced plans for a redesign, dubbed ‘Project Fresh,’ aimed at significantly reducing cabin odour events, although implementation will not occur until 2026 for new aircraft.
Meanwhile, industry stakeholders continue to grapple with the need for more stringent safety measures to protect those who operate and work within commercial aviation. The US Federal Aviation Administration said that such incidents are “rare,” despite admitting to receiving thousands of incidents since 2010.
Another issue is that no two fume events are ever the same. Some are mild while others, as previously reported, can lead to a diversion and/or full-scale evacuation of the aircraft. This often leads to minor events going unreported.
Some airlines are now altering their training protocols to ensure that crews are better trained on how to deal with and report fume events as soon as they happen.
Have you been involved in a fume event? Please share your experiences with us.
© Confessions of a Trolley Dolly by Dan Air