Spaced Out

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goes back to An incident in January, when a pilot was not responding at the controls of an airplane comes in to land at Heathrow, is only the latest in a series of potentially dangerous "fume events" for decades, reports the BBC's Mike Powell .

This year, 2020, was only a few hours old when a British Airways captain issued a Mayday Emergency Call to the control tower at London Heathrow Airport .

Only a few minutes from the landing BA633 of Athens, on the evening of the 2. January, his co-pilot - first officer - had fallen together at the controller. You will Experience a "fume event", if toxic, Air flows into the aircraft.

The BBC has seen, the Air Safety Report (ASR) from this event. BA employees with disciplinary Action or even the sack is in danger - when you disclose the content of these confidential reports, But One of them has risked a lot, with the argument that The Truth must be known.

In the ASR, The Captain notes that he experienced, strong odors, And Then was concerned, to breathe that his co-pilot was not responding to questions and had started quickly.

"This Time his head was dropping forward, and he was not really sensible to be aware of. About seven miles to touchdown, I immediately my oxygen and pulled the mask and explained that I had under control. [I made] to land a quick assessment and decision-making, more. P2 [Pilot 2] is not responding now complete. "

British Airways , says: "It is true that The First officer passed out, he felt uncomfortable, But none of the pilots in The Cockpit to say that he passed out. "But BA does not admit that it was a Mayday call indicates the highest distress, and a "fume event" onboard. The Company also points out that all of the passengers aboard the previous and be sure that The Incident was referred to the Air Accidents Investigation Branch.

no One really knows how often such events occur, But the BBC has seen evidence that the beginning of this month, another BA aircraft experienced a fume event, which will be hit hard, The Flight is The First officer. It is not claimed that the same aircraft has been two Smoke events in the year 2019, including One in which both pilots were affected by-But incapable of Action .

A veteran of the Air Accidents Investigation Branch has estimated that fume events - with varying degrees of severity - occurrence at least twice A Day , around The World . A study by the University of Kansas found out that there are at least five per day in the United States alone. The Cabin Crew union BASSA says it happens flights, on average, once A Day on BA. And the European aviation safety Agency or EASA - told the BBC there were More Than 100 heavy Smoke incidents in his area of responsibility in each of 2017 and 2018.

The events vary in type.

Sometimes the Smoke is - as on BA 422 to Valencia in August 2019. Passenger Gayle Fitzpatrick, who shot the footage in the video below, says BA is not told is still what actually happened. BA says this is because it is waiting on the results of a Spanish Air accident investigation.

Sometimes there's an unpleasant smell. People describe it as "smelly socks", "wet dog", "ozone" or "nail Polish".

Sometimes, only The Crew are affected. Sometimes the passengers to it.

The Air passengers and crew breathe on Board in almost all jet aircraft, is "bleed Air " from the penetration of the flow of Air into the engine and piped into The Cabin . The Fear is that it is contaminated by toxic engine oil contains chemicals called organophosphates.

The airline industry is relentless, there is no evidence that fume events damage sustained. But the people who work for the airlines are increasingly worried that their health is damaged, to incidents that registered on their own unofficial Smoke event. There is still no Central database in The World for all airlines.

One concern is that if both pilots were affected by such an incident, a Smoke event could be a disaster. In 2016, another BA flight The Flight to San Francisco was, if the pilots made a PAN-PAN Emergency - a level of a Mayday. The BBC has a confidential report of a member of The Crew , in which he says, there were reports of "dizziness, headache, nausea, itchy red eyes, a metallic taste, aggression, and The Most worrying is the forgetfulness and confusion is seen, the inability to think straight and converse normal".

He continues: "I myself experienced a moment of forgetfulness, and the inability words. Twelve of The Crew gave us cause for concern. Eight members of The Crew were on oxygen. We would "lose" the team would say, they were to go to the toilet And Then you would be at The Other end of the plane, do not know how they got there.

"The Crew found themselves in corners with blankets over their heads, and other "stuffing food in their mouths, while on oxygen'. Some seemed 'Spaced Out ' and 'slow to respond'. It was discussed on the team is capable of, for (the management of) the doors for the landing, But we had no other choice...and hoped for The Best , as so many of the team affected to have been pulled. "

One of The Crew on Board, while the "PAN-PAN" Emergency Call is not identified want to be, But he told me that during The Flight , you had to give a euphoric feeling, "dizziness", as she says.

"I felt disoriented and had a acrid taste in the back of my neck - a bit like the overwhelming effect that you get when you enter a nail bar. My eyes were watering and stinging. The impact to The Flight to worry about it. I Am regularly out of breath and have a heavy feeling on my chest and at night, heart palpitations. I had a hacking cough, the three courses of antibiotics would not move. My memory has faded. The problems with regular doctors (GPs) is that you have to Experience aviation medicine. "

The parents of The Other BA crew member to believe that her 34-year-old son died because of poisonous Air in the aircraft he flew in his 15-year flying career.

Charlie and Fiona Bass Paid £7,000 to cover the cost of a second Autopsy and further testing on your son, Matt Bass, died in the year 2014. They say that these tests found organophosphates in Matt's body. At the time of his investigation, BA his death denied was connected with cabin Smoke .

Matt-Bass

But Matt local MP Henry Smith , who was a representative for A Number of crew and pilots, The Flight Gatwick-Airport, in Crawley, West Sussex , told the BBC he was concerned that there were too many fume events and to many resulting incidents of "aerotoxic syndrome", as it is sometimes called.

"I've had enough constituents come to me, a suspicion that death as a result of the Aerotoxic Syndrome & therefore I think, it is the responsibility of the airlines to ensure that you will not be putting that aside as a small Problem, But properly examined, the health & safety of your employees & passengers," he said.

Matt Bass Fleet was the inspiration for the angel - a list of those airline employees who have died, compiled by ex-crew leader, Dee Passon. You told me that you are shocked at how many Young People appear on The List . Two of them - Karen Lysakowska and Richard Westgate - were the BA pilots, they both died in their early 40s, as.

Richard Westgate post-mortem examination revealed damage to the heart and the Nervous System , attributed to the co-investigating judges to an unintentional overdose of sleeping pills. But His Family says that toxic cabin Air may be The Cause . In 2015, the senior coroner for Dorset Sheriff Payne, issued what is a "regulation 28 report" about the case of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and British Airways means. In it, he said:

in my opinion it is a risk that future deaths will occur if Action is not taken. Concerns are as follows...

(1), organo-phosphate compounds are present in aircraft cabin Air .

(2) are exposed to the occupants of aircraft cabins organo-phosphate compounds with consequential damage to their health.

(3), That an impairment of the health of those witnesses, the control of flight can lead to the death of the occupants.

(4) There are no real-time monitoring to detect such compounds in cabin Air .

(5) no consideration of the genetic variation in the human species, as render individuals tolerant or intolerant of the exposure would be.

While The Crew and their families, the debt disease and deaths in the poisonous Air , there is no real possibility of monitoring of fume events. In the search for a solution, Pall aerospace is the development of monitoring is to Filter, say EasyJet, you'll the procedure this year

"the question I think is," How much is too much and there is a level of exposure to people sick?' And this is the kind of research that needs to be done now," he says.

civil aviation authority, aviation safety, air accidents investigation branch, long reads, air travel, aerospace, aviation accidents and incidents, london heathrow airport, british airways

Source of news: bbc.com