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posted by n1 on Monday June 08 2015, @09:37PM   Printer-friendly
from the he-who-smelt-it dept.

British airlines is accused of exposing cabin crew to breathing in fumes mixed with engine oil and other toxic chemicals like TCP, an organophosphate known to be dangerous to human health in high enough quantities. But the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) says incidents of smoke or fumes on planes are rare and there is no evidence of long-term health effects.

Safety reports submitted to the CAA show that between April 2014 and May 2015 there were at least 251 separate incidents of fumes or smoke inside a large passenger jet operated by a British airline.

Pilot Richard Westgate died in December 2012, aged 43, after complaining of long-term health problems. The coroner said the body "disclosed symptoms consistent with exposure to organophosphate compounds in aircraft cabin air". A similar case is 34-year-old Matthew Bass who died in 2014.

Time to pack a gas mask when flying?


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Fluffeh on Tuesday June 09 2015, @01:08AM

    by Fluffeh (954) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday June 09 2015, @01:08AM (#193879) Journal

    I use a gas mask with a proper filtering system quite a bit when woodworking (you wouldn't believe what old paints and finishes can put into the air when sanding back reclaimed wood) let along how much dust can get up your nose from clean wood. These masks don't look friendly, and I can certainly say that if I was on a plane and someone was wearing one of these I think I would get a bit freaked out... I would like to see someone carrying this actually GET past airport security.

    "What do you need that for...?"

    "There are reports of fumes on planes...."

    "Lies terrorist!! What are you PLANNING!!!"

    etc etc.

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  • (Score: 2) by kaszz on Tuesday June 09 2015, @01:48AM

    by kaszz (4211) on Tuesday June 09 2015, @01:48AM (#193887) Journal

    Woodworking and paint sanding is likely to cause quite large particles. The fumes in planes like TCP is likely very fine molecules. So different filtering type is needed.

    But your point about security is one to consider. It should however be possible to pass by using a less scary and small gas mask? (perhaps outside of states of paranoia)

    • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday June 09 2015, @02:20AM

      by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday June 09 2015, @02:20AM (#193895) Journal

      The fumes in planes like TCP is likely very fine molecules.

      Would changing the protocol to UDP-over-IPv6 solve the issue? (sure, the plane will remain as unreliable as before, but the datagram size can be increased [wikipedia.org])
      (don't shoot!! Lame attempt but only joking)

      --
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
  • (Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday June 09 2015, @06:43PM

    by DeathMonkey (1380) on Tuesday June 09 2015, @06:43PM (#194174) Journal

    I use a gas mask with a proper filtering system quite a bit when woodworking
     
    They're called "respirators," for the record.
     
    And while a particulate filter will probably do just fine for home woodworking if you want to filter out something like TCP you need to get cartridges specific to those compounds. So, you need to know what you will be exposed to ahead of time unless you want to carry around a bunch of different cartridges.