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Transportation Science

How Toxic Fumes Seep Into the Air You Breathe on Planes (latimes.com) 75

Posted by msmash from the closer-look dept.
An anonymous reader shares an investigative report by LA Times: The plane had begun its descent into Boston. Inside the cockpit, the captain was slumped in his seat. Sitting beside him, copilot Eric Tellmann was starting to pass out. Tellmann managed to strap on his oxygen mask, then grabbed the captain's arm and forced him to follow suit. Reviving slowly, the captain looked at Tellmann through his mask, and his eyes grew wide with fear. A strange smell had permeated the plane that day. Passengers and flight attendants were coughing and wiping teary eyes. The pilots briefly lifted their masks and could still smell the odor as the runway drew nearer. Tellmann and the captain parked the Airbus A319 at the gate. But they had no memory of landing or taxiing Spirit Airlines Flight 708. Tellmann went to the hospital for treatment and spent the next week at home in bed, vomiting and shaking and feeling "like a freight train had run over us," he said in a letter to his union about the July 2015 event. A mysterious smell. Strange symptoms. A trip to the emergency room. The signs were all there: Something had gone seriously wrong with the plane's air supply.

The air you breathe on airplanes comes directly from the jet engines. Known as bleed air, it is safe, unless there is a mechanical issue -- a faulty seal, for instance. When that happens, heated jet engine oil can leak into the air supply, potentially releasing toxic gases into the plane. For decades, the airline industry and its regulators have known about these incidents -- called fume events -- and have maintained that they are rare and that the toxic chemical levels are too low to pose serious health risks. But a Times investigation found that vapors from oil and other fluids seep into planes with alarming frequency across all airlines, at times creating chaos and confusion: Flight attendants vomit and pass out. Passengers struggle to breathe. Children get rushed to hospitals. Pilots reach for oxygen masks or gasp for air from opened cockpit windows. Such events are documented in airport paramedic records, NASA safety reports, federal aviation records and other filings reviewed by The Times. Tellmann, the Spirit Airlines pilot, was one of hundreds of airline crew members and passengers who reported being sickened or impaired on flights in recent years. A Times analysis of NASA safety reports from January 2018 to December 2019 identified 362 fume events that airline crew members reported to the agency, with nearly 400 pilots, flight attendants and passengers receiving medical attention. During at least 73 of those flights, pilots used emergency oxygen. Four dozen pilots were described as impaired to the point of being unable to perform their duties. Because they're made voluntarily, the NASA safety reports are the "tip of the iceberg," according to a recent study by a researcher from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
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How Toxic Fumes Seep Into the Air You Breathe on Planes More

How Toxic Fumes Seep Into the Air You Breathe on Planes

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  • Spirit Airlines (Score:3)

    by algaeman ( 600564 ) on Friday December 18, 2020 @04:39PM (#60846300)
    Seems like a pretty typical flight for Spirit Airlines.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dj245 ( 732906 )

      Seems like a pretty typical flight for Spirit Airlines.

      I've traveled extensively for work for 15 years and only a couple months ago had the misfortune of having to fly Spirit. Everything bad you have heard about them is not an exaggeration, and may be understated.

      • So you save $50 on the airfare and are then offended because a $1 bottle of water isn't free?

        Spirit has rock-bottom prices. Obviously, they do that by cutting corners on service. That's the deal. If that isn't what you want, then you should pay to fly a full-service airline.

        • So you save $50 on the airfare and are then offended because a $1 bottle of water isn't free?

          $3, per their website, but your point stands.

          https://customersupport.spirit... [spirit.com]

          The fact that they make this information fairly easily accessible is a point in their favor (contrast Ryan Air, who don't seem to have an easily located price schedule of their own, though I can find via third parties). Really though, what exactly does one expect from an "Ultra Low Cost Carrier" beyond getting them to the gate in one piece?

          • Really though, what exactly does one expect from an "Ultra Low Cost Carrier" beyond getting them to the gate in one piece?

            Is that the aircraft or the passengers?

            • A very good question... I've never flown on one (so I can't speak from direct experience), but questionable-to-non-existent customer service aside, I will say: despite their reputations for bad maintenance practices and other extreme cost cutting, most of them manage to maintain fairly reasonable safety statistics.
        • Believe me, they cut corners EVERYWHERE.

      • A mysterious smell. Strange symptoms. A trip to the emergency room. The signs were all there:

        Paul had been eating burritos again.

  • The 787 does not use bleed air, and it also maintains a higher cabin pressure than most competitors. It is a really nice place to fly in.

    • It maintains the same cabin pressure as other plastic aircraft. Say thanks to carbon fiber reinforced polymers for that.

  • It sounds like a terrible design idea to route the air through the engines. If there are possible problems with why on earth hasn't this been addressed before the 787 in a major plane model? Seems like lazy engineering to me.

    • Re:No shit (Score:5, Insightful)

      by ShanghaiBill ( 739463 ) on Friday December 18, 2020 @06:28PM (#60846596)

      It sounds like a terrible design idea to route the air through the engines.

      The first stage of a jet turbine is a compressor. Sometimes those compressors malfunction and leak lubricants.

      If you use a separate compressor, it could also malfunction and leak lubricants.

      So a separate compressor would add weight, complexity, and cost, without any clear benefit.

      • Main advantage of the separate compressor concept, as it relates to fume events - don't need to withstand extreme heat/pressure that might be present in a running jet engine, so no need for nasty organophosphate oil additives (specifically tricresyl phosphate aka "TCP"). Inhalation of small amounts of finely aerosolized oil is unlikely to cause much harm by itself (barring pre-existing medical conditions); TCP exposure, on the other hand, very rapidly leads to nerve damage.

        • Main advantage of the separate compressor concept, as it relates to fume events - don't need to withstand extreme heat/pressure that might be present in a running jet engine

          There is neither extreme heat nor pressure involved in the area of the engine that the air is being taken from. Quite the opposite. The air is actually run past an additional heat exchanger to heat it further in a controlled fashion before being routed to the cabin.

          A separate compressor has seals and oil no different from an aircraft engine at this part. You're not being exposed to any part of the engine that requires truly high tech design.

          The largest part of an aircraft engine is nothing more than a giant

          • This is true, but the lubrication system within the jet engine is generally shared by all of its internal components, so its lubricant must also be able to cope with heat/stress on the rear bearings. Ideally, the bearings aren't subjected to much mechanical stress (natural advantage of gas turbines), but they must also be able to cope with running under sub-optimal conditions (high vibration due to e.g. bird strike damage, extreme heat due to prolonged combustion issues from the same) for as long as they ca
            • Correction - I did misinterpret the compressor layout of a typical CF34; it is a twin-spool engine, but until the most recent -10 variant, the inner shaft only connects the fan to the LP turbine section... still, the bleed port is well behind the front bearing seal.

      • The first stage of a jet turbine is a compressor. Sometimes those compressors malfunction and leak lubricants.

        Couldn't you install a trap in the air feed? Then you could sell the recovered lubricants to passengers wanting to join the Mile High Club. It's a win/win.

      • You need to do that to pre-heat the air from -50C to around 20C.

    • You think that's bad? You should see how they cool boat engines.

      • They all pump sea water to cool the engine. Usually larger boats and those meant for salt water will have closed loop cooling and use the sea water in a heat exchanger. Smaller and/or boats used mostly in fresh water will just pump sea water through the engine block as the coolant.

        The latter is less desirable in salt water due to corrosion but can be viable if you flush the engine routinely with fresh water after use.

    • Never attribute to engineers what is attributable to bad management decisions. Especially when it comes to cost cutting.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by dj245 ( 732906 )

      It sounds like a terrible design idea to route the air through the engines. If there are possible problems with why on earth hasn't this been addressed before the 787 in a major plane model? Seems like lazy engineering to me.

      It's a practical solution, saves weight and space, and reduces complexity and arguably points of failure. The pressurized air comes off the turbine compressor, which is well ahead of, and normally well separated from, the point at which fuel is introduced. It's always available as long as one engine is operating, and double engine failures on modern aircraft are extremely rare. Therefore it is an extremely reliable way to get pressurized and heated air.

      Something is very wrong with the engine if fumes a

    • It sounds like a terrible design idea to route the air through the engines.

      An airplane engine is a ginormous fan. It literally sucks in air and compresses it. All of this is done before it comes in contact with any fuel.
      Literally any alternative proposal would work the same way and have the same potential issue with seals.

      This isn't lazy engineering, it's incredibly clever engineering to reuse something that already exist to reduce weight and maintenance.

    • Programmer nerd with no knowledge of aircraft or turbomachinery dismisses the last 50 years of aircraft engineering as "lazy". And this is why aircraft are a safe way to travel an the average piece of softare is a brittle mess. But at least it's using the latest framework in a fashionable language!

  • #amirhgit?

  • They were powered by bleed air, but none of that entered the cabin.

  • Um... what now? (Score:3)

    by fahrbot-bot ( 874524 ) on Friday December 18, 2020 @05:26PM (#60846438)

    Pilots reach for oxygen masks or gasp for air from opened cockpit windows.

    I'm sure that's fun at altitude. :-)

  • I fly 737 Max (Score:3)

    by nospam007 ( 722110 ) * on Friday December 18, 2020 @07:04PM (#60846698)

    So I don't really care about my health.

    • Presumably it is possible for a human being to simultaneously maintain a concern for their health and a death wish.

      • "Presumably it is possible for a human being to simultaneously maintain a concern for their health and a death wish."

        A good thing for organ donors.

  • In other news (Score:2, Insightful)

    by hdyoung ( 5182939 )
    Yesterday, over 3000 people died in car accidents. Today, the same. Tomorrow, yup, you guessed it. Day on and day out, year after year.

    Reference: https://www.thewanderingrv.com... [thewanderingrv.com]

    This article play's on peoples fears because *omg-flying-I'm-high-up-and-I-dont-have-control-I'm scared". As an engineer, I'll take the risk of sucking airplane fumes any day over driving. More likely to die on the drive to the airport than on that plane.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dcw3 ( 649211 )

      Mod parent up. Humans are terrible at understanding actual risk.

    • Planes are safer per mile, but cars are, on average, safer per trip. Airplanes are, on average, only slightly safer per trip than a motorcycle. Not a motorcycle with a good rider, an average motorcycle.

  • The BAe 146 usually dumped a smelly smoky cloud into the cabin at engine start. It was a good aircraft for noise abatement (Orange County John Wayne adjoins $$$ Newport Beach) and fun for the peculiar departure with abrupt power reduction over the $$$ neighborhood. Also for watching the engine tail cones glow red while taking off fully loaded from McCarran with an outside air temperature of maybe 105 F, even at dusk.

    • Funny little aircraft that one. They're quite regular out of London City. Low noise and with a terrifying descent rate and amazing climb. Good for slotting into a small runway surrounded by skyscrapers. Though the location of the airbrake makes it look like the aircraft is doing a goatse hen it opens.

  • detecting hot hydrocarbon vapors is easy-peasy, why isn't there an alarm for it and auto mask deployment?

    • I agree that there *should* be. I suspect that if the manufacturers offered one, they would fear that they were admitting that they had a problem. (I am NOT agreeing with that logic).
    • Passenger drop-down masks are only meant to supply a small flow of oxygen after loss of cabin pressure to stave off hypoxia during a (hopefully expedient) descent to an altitude where the air is breathable. Not unlike a typical oxygen supplement system used by people with certain pulmonary issues; they do next to nothing to dilute or filter the air that one is inhaling. Most use simple (and low maintenance) chemical oxygen generators, though some (i forget) do use bottle oxygen through a system of manifolds
      • My claim of icing altitudes is definitely wrong. It is certainly possible to experience icing any time one is passing through a cloud or other source of moisture. However, this would still be pretty rare at 30,000+ ft, so I stand by the rest of my statement.

    • This is Spirit air we are talking about here. The sick passengers ARE the detectors. Only, instead of just one or two detectors... which are poorly maintained or possibly missing because this is Spirit air we are talking about here... per engine; there are a couple hundred detectors right there in the cabin. They even get to save money on the bulb for the warning light that way. WIN!

  • There's something seriously wrong with us or our culture that this kind of crap happens all the time, and people mostly react with weary cynicism. Until several hundred people lose their lives in a plane crash caused by the seepage of toxic fumes, it will remain a minor footnote in the long list of corporate malfeasance.

    From the Radium Girls to Exxon Knew, Big Tobacco's "doubt is our product", and most recently President Trump, I sure hope the nation has had such a surfeit of bull and an unwilling remedi

  • see (Score:2)

    by Jodka ( 520060 )

    regulatory capture [wikipedia.org]

  • The airlines in the west, have been busy offshoring the engine maintenance to other nations in which they do not have as high of standards. Sad.
    Ppl should start suing the airlines if they are in a craft like this.

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