The widespread misconception that aviation has the highest and best standards.
The widespread misconception that aviation has the highest and best standards.
Flying is safe - or so they say.
An engine cowling fell off a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-800 during takeoff on Sunday morning. The FAA has started looking into this. According to the National Transportation Safety Board's (NTSB) online Case Analysis and Reporting Tool (CAROL), there have been 29 incidents, accidents, and occurrences involving Boeing aircraft worldwide from January 1 through April 7, 2024.
Flying is safe - or so they say.
However incidents and accidents still occur, and a thorough analysis of the causes reveals deficiencies that were in place long before these definitely frightening sometimes tragic events.
There is a widespread misconception that aviation has the highest and best standards. It is becoming increasingly clear that, in contrast to the "prophylactic thinking" that prevailed in aviation up until a few years ago, economic considerations on the part of the airline industry and even their regulators play a role in these often close-to-disaster cases taking place regularly these days.
Unfortunately, passengers do not have an influential lobby like the industry. How much is invested in safety is determined by tough cost-benefit calculations. Global standards, whose compliance has long since ceased to be monitored as it should be, also suffer as a result.
The recent list of obvious and very visible “events” are just that: visible. But there are also invisible maintenance and servicing problems that can be health and safety issues.
And this takes me straight back to the subject of Aircraft Cabin Air Quality. For decades the industry has been under pressure by groups stressing the dangers of toxins contaminating aircraft cabin air that has caused ill-health and loss of license and their livelihood for countless pilots and flight attendants worldwide.
Aviation Industry’s mantra:
The air on board an aircraft is just as safe and clean as the air in an operating room.
Airlines used the same statement during the “pandemic”…: ” The risk of infection while flying is extremely low”. In addition, they insist that the cabin air is fresh and the circulating air – exchanged every 2-3 minutes - is continuously filtered and cleansed of dust, bacteria, and viruses ( Ed: and apparently also of other contaminants, they even insist “up to 99%”). They stress that the “high-efficiency filters used for this purpose "meet the standard of filters in a clinical operating room" and "… moreover, the airflow in the aircraft is top-down. There is no horizontal airflow sideways or lengthways.”
Professor Dr.-Ing. Dieter Scholz from HAW-University of Applied Sciences in Germany, Department of Automotive and Aeronautical Engineering, refutes the notion that the air in airplane cabins is only vertically circulated and completely exchanged in 2-3 minutes. He calls this 'fake news' and cites technical information from aircraft manufacturers to support his claim: "There is some recirculation of air in flight and the HEPA filters can retain some of it, but not all. 100% effective HEPA filters can cut the concentration of viruses in half, but the use of these filters onboard aircraft is not regulated by law," he adds that the air in the cabin is not only directed from top to bottom but also horizontally, which means the air moves from one person to the next in a row of seats. By diffusion and turbulence, germs (viruses, etc.) are distributed along the length of the cabin. Even when flight attendants and passengers walk up and down the aisle, the germs are spread due to the movements.
Broken, worn, or simply leaking seals in crucial areas of the engines, and neglected engine maintenance service allow hot engine oil fumes and exhaust gases to enter the air ducts and if the HEPA filters are old and dirty, or worse, not present, the toxic air is sucked in and distributed unhindered into the passenger and cockpit areas where, unbeknownst to most flying public, it damages their health. Frequent flyers and professional flight crews are regularly exposed to the nearly constant presence of low-level gases - often unnoticed because the olfactory nerves quickly adapt to the smell, and people think that what they initially noticed as an unpleasant smell or "odor" is gone.
Since 2011, new cars and heavy-duty trucks have been required by law to have exhaust filters that can remove most larger, solid particles. However, a recent study published in Environment International found that these filters are not as effective at removing smaller liquid particles.
Most newer vehicles are equipped with cabin air filters, which remove particulate matter and microbes from the outside air as it passes through the HVAC system. These filters can even be upgraded to HEPA units for greater effectiveness. However, if you own an older vehicle, it may not have an integrated cabin air filter.
For aircraft the industry's highly touted HEPA filters are "recommended" and not required, never mind “by law”. Why not?
Recent publications suggest that the cause of the cabin's toxic air could be carbon monoxide. However, it is not a complete picture to assume that the cause of the aircraft cabin's dirty air is carbon monoxide fumes alone. Several scientists who have been studying this topic for decades have analyzed and meticulously listed the substances that are in the air. Yes, CO may exist, but only in trace amounts.
This does not mean that it is harmless; rather, the problem lies in the combination of the more than 400 specified chemicals (which was revised from 317 recently - also see VOCs and ultrafine particles).
THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAIL!
The World Health Organization (WHO) has not yet established a “safety threshold” for ultrafine particles. The concept of a "safety threshold" is a separate matter entirely that requires further discussion. However, they do recognize that particulate pollution in general has adverse effects on cardiovascular and respiratory health and express concerns about ultrafine particles and their ability to circulate throughout the body in its 2021 Air Quality Guidelines.
NOTE: For full in-depth information, testimonies, articles, evidence, court cases, documentaries, medical protocol, etc., about the problem of Aircraft Cabin Air Quality and Aerotoxic Syndrome please visit UNFILTERED . While you are there, please sign our PETITION.
