N9373M

DCA13WA068

On 2 March 2013, at approximately 0849 UTC time, a Boeing 737-530, registration D-ABIL, operated by by Lufthansa, was operating between Franfurt, Germany and Graz, Austria. The crew reported that just after takeoff from Frankfurt, and again about 5 minutes before landing in GRZ, a smell of "old socks" could be observed in the cockpit and the front galley - each time for approximately 3 minutes. The Captain and 1st Officer used oxygen masks while the smell was present. The flight landed normally and there were no injuries.

Not sure if this should be posted in: Safety, Hangar Talk, or the ridiculous mx thread.

captain152

Of just who was ripping a$$ and not admitting it?!

Ajax

We have a winner!

jungle

This was discovered during the 1920s during the first lighter than air flights by zeppelins and was named bierundwurstgaz by scientists. It causes watering of the eyes and gagging and is normally produced by changes in cabin pressure.

A similar scientific discovery was made in the US and was caused by Bud and pickled eggs.

Timbo

Well, if it's not an April Fools joke, maybe it should be. If it's a legit smell, perhaps it has to do with where the airflow is coming from during the first and last 3 minutes of flight, which is when the nose gear is down, and the gear doors are open. I don't have any time on the 737, but from flying the KC135 and 727 many years, I know when the nose gear doors open you can get some funky smells wafting up into the cockpit, the burning rubber smell from the nose tire scrubber brake was one.

We had one old KC135 that the boom operators would write up as, "Smells of Dead Goat." The mx guys searched for years and replaced a lot of stuff under the floor, but the smell never went away.

Going into Bombay on the 777, we would place bets on what altitude we would "Smell It". After a few trips I figured it out. We would smell it as soon as the power came up after level off at about 10,000'.

Approach would bring you down to 10K and of course you've been at idle since 350, so you don't smell anything different, until you've been at 10,000' for a minute or two as the airplane slows to 250, then the power comes up to hold 250, and about a minute later, "That Bombay Smell" would come through the packs and into the cockpit.

Ahhh...the sweet smell of curry, fireworks....and raw sewage.

N9373M

Thanks. It's not a 4/1 joke - that's why I included the NTSB link. Must have been pretty bad to don the masks.

DakBroadbent

I've smelled that same smell. There's a thread on PPRUNE about the topic. I believe it's sometimes suspected to be volatile organic compounds in the bleed air via misted oil getting past seals. I guess it's no bueno and there have been people who've suffered neurological damage from occupational exposure. We always call it "locker room" smell, but I'd bet money it's the same odor described.

Timbo

Neurological Damage?? Really?? How can they tell?

I've never been able to figure out if I've suffered neurological damage because I fly airplanes, or if I fly airplanes because I've suffered neurological damage!

Either way, I've suffered, believe me.

;^)

DakBroadbent

Organophosphates are the suspect.

Dead British Airways pilots 'victims of toxic cabin fumes' - PPRuNe Forums

Toxic cockpit fumes that bring danger to the skies | Business | The Observer

Singlecoil

That's what skydrol smells like. Trust me, I once had a 737 so full of atomized skydrol that the smoke alarms in the lavs were going off. It all came from a pack in under 5 seconds. Maintenance overfilled the reservoir which is pressurized by bleed air. It was so full it was able to run down the bleed line and into the pack and the potable water since it is also pressurized by bleed air. We were told it was all clean, but in reality, not so much.