Fume events

[dashx]

I noticed that the Jazz aircraft have CO detectors in both the cabin (galley area) and the cockpit. Do any other operators have CO detectors as well?

And do you actually look at them to see if anything is happening during a flight?

And are these calender items?

And now in a different direction I worked with a retired AC captain that had a "pre-cancerous" condition on the left side of his face. AC had told him there was no problem with radiation at altitude. Well that was his story.

Now my father used an X ray machine in his clinic (not very frequently) but had to use the standard X ray exposure tag. You know... to limit his exposure to Xrays. He never worried about it but followed procedure to get it checked.

As an air traveller I don't worry about x rays too much as I don't spend the same time at altitude as the cabin/flight crew do.

So.... are there any procedures for the crews that fly up at altitude in regards to x rays???

Or any thoughts in this matter???

BTW .... I have had more than my fair share of "fume events" when doing charters both in the frt and back.....

[ILSfan07]

not sure if other people are looking at them, but they're pretty darn close to both pilot's view.

this shot is from a Jazz RJ200

[canwhitewolf]

not to many things will get your heart pounding harder than smoke in the cockpit, especially at night, has happened to me and i assure you it will get your immediate attention,

after that i always carried goggles in my flight bag

[xsbank]

Anyone who has flown passengers in a pressurized Bombardier aircraft knows that all the air from the cabin flows through the front of the aircraft and past the rudder pedals where it moves aft through the avionics bay for cooling then out the outflow valves. This gives rise to many "fume events" that vary in intensity and the frequent requirement for O2 masks.... goggles don't help.

[canwhitewolf]

I was speaking to smoke in the cockpit not just fumes

and yes goggles would have helped in my situation anyway

[HavaJava]

[canwhitewolf]

funny

[Bae146]

It is a CO2 detector... not a fume or smoke detector...

Co2 is invisible ... and the first source of co2 problems are from ground equipment exhaust too close from the plane...

[canwhitewolf]

or perhaps a CO detector not a CO2 detector

[Unit 969]

Every piston and turbine should have one of these: http://www.guardianavionics.com/aero-252-f.html

252F-MANUAL.pdf

Manual

(245.51 KiB) Downloaded 46 times

[b1ngnx33]

http://staff.kings.edu/kdils/StudentWor ... l_mine.gif

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-does-it-me ... l-mine.htm

Go for the all natural, time tested CO detector.

Free from trouble from all avionic issues.

Can help pilots get dates.

Might even sing.

Pilots can be the canaries friend, and cure long flights of boredom by having a listening buddy.

Canaries are cheaper than electronics.

[Unit 969]

On that note:

THE CAT & DUCK METHOD OF IFR FLYING:

Today's flight age is an era highlighted with increasing emphasis
on safety. Instrumentation in the cockpit and in the traffic
control tower has reached new peaks of electronic perfection to
assist the pilot during take-offs , flight , and landings. For
whimsical contrast to these and other marvels of scientific
flight engineering , it is perhaps opportune to remind pilots of
the basic rules concerning the so-called Cat-and-Duck Method of
Flight , just in case something goes wrong with any of these new-
fangled flying instruments you find in today's aircraft.
Place a live cat on the cockpit floor. Because a cat always
remains upright , he or she can be used in lieu of a needle and
ball. Merely watch to see which way the cat leans to determine
if a wing is low and , if so , which one.
The duck is used for the instrument approach and landing.
Because any sensible duck will refuse to fly under instrument
conditions, it is only necessary to hurl your duck out of the
plane and follow her to the ground.

There are some limitations to the Cat-and-Duck Method, but
by rigidly adhering to the following check list , a degree of
success will be achieved.

1. Get a wide-awake cat. Most cats do not want to stand up
at all, at any time. It may be necessary to get a large fierce
dog in the cockpit to keep the cat at attention.

2. Make sure your cat is clean. Dirty cats will spend all
their time washing. Trying to follow a cat licking itself
usually results in a tight snap roll, followed by an inverted (or
flat) spin. You can see this is very unsanitary.

3. Old cats are best. Young cats have nine lives, but an
old used-up cat with only one life left has just as much to lose
an you do and will therefore be more dependable.

4. Beware of cowardly ducks. If the duck discovers that
you are using the cat to stay upright - or straight and level-
she will refuse to leave without the cat. Ducks are no better on
instruments than you are.

5. Be sure the duck has good eyesight. Nearsighted ducks
sometimes will go flogging off into the nearest hill. Very
short-sighted ducks will not realize they have been thrown out
and will descend to the ground in a sitting position. This
maneuver is quite difficult to follow in an airplane.

6. Use land-loving ducks. It is very discouraging to break
out and find yourself on final approach for some farm pound in
Iowa. Also, the farmers there suffer from temporary insanity
when chasing crows off their corn fields and will shoot anything
that flies.

7. Choose your duck carefully. It is easy to confuse ducks
with geese because many water birds look alike. While they are
very competent instrument flyers , geese seldom want to go in the
same direction you do. If your duck heads off for the Okefenokee
Swamp, you may be sure you have been given the goose.

[cyxe]

And now in a different direction I worked with a retired AC captain that had a "pre-cancerous" condition on the left side of his face. AC had told him there was no problem with radiation at altitude. Well that was his story.

What exactly did he have?

Both my parents have had pre cancerous lesions on the face. He probably had actinic keratosis - that was what my parents had. It is due to sun exposure, not radiation or "fume events".

Wear sunscreen

[dashx]

Cancer is cancer (or in his case a "pre cancerous condition") It will still scare the s-it out of you.

I had another friend who just loved sun tanning. She ended up with (I suspect) the same thing. She kept on going down south every winter even after the doctor told her what she had and prescribed medication for it.....So she accepted it.

The retired pilot was pissed because he had been told by his "superiors" that there was no problem with radiation at altitude.

In any case radiation from the sun can be just as lethal as that from xrays (different source same effect on your body). It just takes longer but Hey I'm no expert......

So i suppose I did word the one statement incorrectly. I should have said the sun's radiation and not x rays.....

The fume events well ........ you know.... I don't remember ..... mind fuzzy now......

[Widow]

A new meaning to ‘cabin fever’
Exposure to tainted cabin air may have real long-term effects


As the airplane pulled up to the gate after a routine flight from Memphis to Dallas, veteran flight attendant Terry Williams saw something strange: a smoky haze, she says, was coming from the ventilation system. The fumes soon dissipated; but for Williams, their impact would be long-lasting. Since that flight two years ago, she says she’s suffered from migraines, asthma, and a tremor in her left arm, as well as vision impairment and memory loss. “I don’t feel I’m the wife my husband married, or the mother I want to be,” says Williams, who has two young sons. “It’s affected me in every possible way.”

Williams, now 40, recently launched a lawsuit against Boeing and its subsidiary, McDonnell Douglas, contending the airplane’s manufacturers “knew or should have known” that tainted fumes could enter the ventilation system, causing serious health effects to those on board. According to Seattle aviation attorney Alisa Brodkowitz, who’s representing Williams, in most Boeing aircraft—including the MD-82 on which Williams was travelling—fresh air is sucked in through the jet engines before being cooled and vented into the cabin (mixed with filtered, recirculated air). Along the way, Brodkowitz says, it can pick up contaminates ranging from engine oil to metals.
Boeing isn’t the only manufacturer that taps air off the engine to ventilate the cabin; this “bleed air system” has been standard for over 30 years, mainly because it’s a cheap and efficient way to bring fresh, pressurized air into the cabin, says Christiaan van Netten, professor emeritus of toxicology at the University of British Columbia. “Everything is fine, if the engine is working properly,” he says. “But if there’s an oil leak, you’ve got a problem.” Jet engine oil contains substances including tricresyl phosphate, a neurotoxin, and when the oil reaches high temperatures, he says, “carbon monoxide is released.”

For Dr. Darren Jakubec, a family doctor in Smithers, B.C., this comes as no surprise. In 2004, on an Air Canada flight to Winnipeg, his dog Sila died in the plane’s cargo hold; an autopsy revealed the dog had “probable carbon monoxide poisoning.” (Carbon monoxide sinks, van Netten notes, and so may have been denser in the cargo hold.) The case was settled out of court, but for Jakubec, it isn’t resolved. “They didn’t mistreat my dog; they killed her with toxins,” he says. Air Canada did not respond to a request for comment.

It’s hard to determine how frequently fume events occur. A 2002 U.S. National Research Council survey of three airlines found that on the British Aerospace 146 aircraft, which had the highest rate cited, air quality incidents happened up to 3.88 times per 1,000 flight cycles. For the Boeing 737, it was 0.09 times per 1,000. In her own analysis of sources, including incident reports to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, Judith Murawski, an industrial hygienist with the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, “found an average of almost one [fume event] a day in the U.S. fleet, and that’s guaranteed to be an underestimate,” she says. (Fume events are almost certainly less common today, says van Netten, a co-author, since technology has improved.) No fume events were reported in Canada in 2008, Transport Canada notes.

According to Clement Furlong, professor of medicine and genome sciences at the University of Washington, exposure to contaminated cabin air can cause long-term health problems like those Williams describes. Due to drug interactions, metabolic differences and other factors, “some people are more susceptible than others,” he says.

Boeing spokesperson Richard Schleh agrees that oil contaminants can enter the cabin, but “to the best of our knowledge, it doesn’t happen very often,” he says. When it does, “our studies indicate you’re not getting enough to cause long-term health effects.” As for Williams’s lawsuit, “we don’t know what role, if any, the airplane may have had in the alleged event,” he says. (Boeing’s new 787 Dreamliner doesn’t use bleed air.)

Almost no one, it seems, disputes that contaminants can waft into an airplane cabin—yet as of now, Murawski says, detecting these fumes is effectively “up to people’s noses.” Canadian standards limit the amount of carbon monoxide that can be present in the airliner cabin, for example, but don’t require that aircraft carry carbon monoxide detectors. And no sensors exist to measure tricresyl phosphate, which is the “primary chemical of concern,” says Ruel Overfelt, executive director of the U.S. Air Transportation Center of Excellence for Airliner Cabin Environment Research. Why? Developing such a sensor “costs money,” Overfelt says.

Even so, the U.S. House of Representatives recently passed legislation including a provision to develop bleed air sensors. When asked if any task forces were examining the issue here, Transport Canada responded in an email that it’s “co-operat[ing] with the United States and European aviation authorities,” but declined to describe any efforts of its own. As for Williams, she’s hopeful public awareness about a little-known issue will emerge from her suit. “I flew many legs and never had a problem,” she says. “One day changed my entire life.”

http://www2.macleans.ca/2009/07/23/a-ne ... in-fever’/