Wet Sock Smell
#161
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Jun 2010
Position: DOWNGRADE COMPLETE: Thanks Gary. Thanks SWAPA.
Posts: 6,601
Holy cow! My fear is that I’m flying with an old school captain who says “eh it’s just the water separator in the packs getting musty” and wants to forge ahead.
My only choice then is to go on oxygen, pull out the QRC, and demand we run the fumes checklist and hope to god I’m right because there’s a carpet dance in my future either way.
What did you and your crew do? Can you walk us through the event?
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My only choice then is to go on oxygen, pull out the QRC, and demand we run the fumes checklist and hope to god I’m right because there’s a carpet dance in my future either way.
What did you and your crew do? Can you walk us through the event?
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As I mentioned, the entire crew wound up in the ER with all of us exhibiting multiple toxic fume exposure symptoms. One of the FAs died a couple of months later although not because of the fume event. All of them went on OJI. Some of them were still suffering long-term symptoms months later.
Guys and gals, I was no expert on this topic but just educated enough to recognize what was happening when it happened. I’m still no expert but in the months after the event I obviously did a lot of research and the only word I can use to describe what’s going on and the potential danger of it all is “chilling”.
The degree of ignorance and even denial amongst airline crew is staggering. Perhaps the scariest part is that over the course of our careers we are exposed to multiple smaller and practically undetectable fume events. The neurotoxin.....TCP, builds up in our body and subsequently one of those minor fume events puts us over the top. Or there’s the obvious heavy fume events which will do it all by itself (like the one the Hawaiian A321 experienced recently).
My friend is permanently effed up and will never fly again because of a fume event on another carrier. He was riding in the back.
Another SWA FA is medically retired for several years now because of a fume event on an old -300. She’s also permanently messed up.
A Spirit captain died a few years ago because of a bad inflight fume event. A USAirways captain lost his medical because of a fume event, became depressed and committed suicide. That’s not to mention all the other occurrences that have happened overseas.
It’s high time we started educating ourselves and documenting these incidents and started pressing the airline and aircraft manufacturers on this.
Here’s a good place to begin if you’d like:
https://www.aerotoxic.org/
#163
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Jun 2010
Position: DOWNGRADE COMPLETE: Thanks Gary. Thanks SWAPA.
Posts: 6,601
#166
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Oct 2010
Posts: 4,603
Picked up a 10 pack of 3M P95 masks on amazon which filter out oil particles for about $25. Pretty good seal. Don’t need 10 but I’ll pass some to friends. Cheap insurance given the amount of DH I do. I’ve had 3 fume events in 3 different phases and luckily all while up front with O2 available.
Notifying an uninformed crew may be futile given the coverup campaign the airlines and manufacturers have been doing over decades
Notifying an uninformed crew may be futile given the coverup campaign the airlines and manufacturers have been doing over decades
#167
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Feb 2006
Position: B-737NG preferably in first class with a glass of champagne and caviar
Posts: 5,902
Another recent “Wet Sock Smell” Event.
Accident: British Airways A320 at London on Jan 2nd 2020, fumes take out first officer
By Simon Hradecky, created Saturday, Jan 4th 2020 22:12Z, last updated Sunday, Jan 5th 2020 08:54Z
Accident: British Airways A320 at London on Jan 2nd 2020, fumes take out first officer
Accident: British Airways A320 at London on Jan 2nd 2020, fumes take out first officer
By Simon Hradecky, created Saturday, Jan 4th 2020 22:12Z, last updated Sunday, Jan 5th 2020 08:54Z
Accident: British Airways A320 at London on Jan 2nd 2020, fumes take out first officer
#168
The finish line should be near. This past fall, in Europe, during the Cabin Air Conference PALL Filters gave a nice presentation on their system.
He joked at the beginning saying he definitely won’t be saying when it will come out, but that it’s close. I guess a few years ago, he said product should be on the market in 2018. Obviously that didn’t come to be, unfortunately.
They have now finally taken the system from the lab and tested it on a real world 321. Ironically the 321, shown in the presentation, they used was an American Airlines 321.
I can’t imagine AA allowing a company to use one of their planes, for a test, if they somehow aren’t going to be a customer of it. Good news if that’s the case. If someone as large as AA is onboard, there should be zero issues getting everyone onboard.
Anyhow, all of the data they collected in the lab, worked just as described in the real airplane.
I’ll try and find the link to the presentation later.
He joked at the beginning saying he definitely won’t be saying when it will come out, but that it’s close. I guess a few years ago, he said product should be on the market in 2018. Obviously that didn’t come to be, unfortunately.
They have now finally taken the system from the lab and tested it on a real world 321. Ironically the 321, shown in the presentation, they used was an American Airlines 321.
I can’t imagine AA allowing a company to use one of their planes, for a test, if they somehow aren’t going to be a customer of it. Good news if that’s the case. If someone as large as AA is onboard, there should be zero issues getting everyone onboard.
Anyhow, all of the data they collected in the lab, worked just as described in the real airplane.
I’ll try and find the link to the presentation later.
#169
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Jun 2010
Position: DOWNGRADE COMPLETE: Thanks Gary. Thanks SWAPA.
Posts: 6,601
Forgive my pessimism if I don’t think this will be solved anytime soon. There’s not enough fist pounding from flight crews and practically zero from the general public for airlines to get their a$$ in gear to fix the problem.
#170
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Apr 2016
Position: 767
Posts: 132
I had a fume event in the 737 recently. It was restricted to the cockpit only. Nobody in the cabin smelled it at all.
We donned our O2 masks, declared, diverted and landed. ER trip, the whole 9 yards.
Not a comfortable experience or position to be in. Made me seriously evaluate if I want to continue working in an industry that actively denies an event I legitimately experienced. I'm furious that the issue isn't taken more seriously by our unions, companies, and aircraft manufacturers.
We donned our O2 masks, declared, diverted and landed. ER trip, the whole 9 yards.
Not a comfortable experience or position to be in. Made me seriously evaluate if I want to continue working in an industry that actively denies an event I legitimately experienced. I'm furious that the issue isn't taken more seriously by our unions, companies, and aircraft manufacturers.
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