Coroner warns toxic fumes in aircraft are 'health risk to aircrew and frequent flyers' after death of BA pilot
UPDATED
BYSAM WEBB
Senior coroner Stanhope Payne made the worrying claims during his inquiry into the death of pilot Richard Westgate
SHARES
PA
Fears: A coroner has expressed concern about the air quality in plane cockpits. File picture
A coroner says toxic fumes in planes may be harming the health of cabin crew and passengers who fly frequently.
Stanhope Payne, senior coroner for Dorset, made the worrying claims during his inquiry into the death of British Airways pilot Richard Westgate, who died in December 2012 aged 43. He believed he had been poisoned by repeated exposure to contaminated cabin air.
Mr Payne raised a number of areas of concern resulting from his investigation into Mr Westgate's death, including that organo-phosphate compounds are present in aircraft cabin air, that exposure to them causes "consequential damage to their health" and that the health problems of those controlling aircraft "may lead to the death of occupants".
Campaigners have warned airline chiefs hazardous fumes from engine oils are entering the cabins of planes, endangering the health and safety of crews and passengers.
Toxicologist Professor Chris van Nettem has previously warned that unless air quality detectors are fitted to planes, pilots could be incapacitated by oil fumes, resulting in a crash.
Warm air is pumped into jets from the engines to provide a comfortable environment.
But campaigners say chemicals in engine oil can also enter cabins despite safety devices meant to stop fumes, causing a condition called aerotoxic syndrome.
Frank Cannon, of Cannons Law Practice, acting on behalf of Mr Westgate's family, said industry had denied that toxic contamination was present 20 years ago.
Mr Cannon said the industry had stated that such contamination "won't do you anyharm" after scientific tests established its presence in aircraft cabins.
After cases of harm emerged, the position became that the contamination was below minimum safety levels, Mr Cannon claimed.
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Dangers: The toxic air may be putting passengers at risk, warned the coroner. File picture
"Minimum safety levels are a fallacy, with no known scientific basis," he said. "Real neurotoxic injury is caused by long-term low-level exposure.
"When a plane lands, the passengers get off, but the crew turn around and do the same thing all over again, day in day out.
"When monitoring or sample testing has taken place, the actual figures obtained are 'all over the place' with no consistency."
Mr Cannon said the figures demonstrated the number of variables such as maintenance, aircraft type, age and hours of engine life.
Sample testing never covers a whole flight, so it is unclear whether the figures obtained represent peaks or troughs of exposure, he added.
"Also very important is the issue of genetic variability between individuals," he said. "Some people have a DNA coding that means they lack the necessary enzymes to detoxify properly or at all.
"The rule emerges that if you are unable to detoxify between flights at a rate which is equal to or greater than the rate at which you are re-intoxicated by repetitive, successive and cumulative exposures, you will become extremely unwell."
In February 2013 it was reported that a British Airways pilot was forced to make an emergency landing at a remote military base after toxic fumes seeped in to the cockpit.
The Heathrow to Philadelphia flight with 158 passengers on board was 38,000ft over the Atlantic when the captain and his first officer began suffering eye and throat irritation.
Wearing oxygen masks, they landed the Boeing 777 at Goose Bay in Newfoundland where temperatures were -30C.
It was the nearest airfield to the coast available.
The Aerotoxic Association was founded in 2007 by a group of air crew who say their careers ended due to the condition.
Pilot Kristof Van Gerven dubbed the condition “the asbestos of the air”.
Professor Michael Bagshaw, an expert in aviation health, said: “A range of chronic health issues are still reported by crew members.”
A spokeswoman for British Airways said: "We will respond to the coroner in due course. It would be inappropriate to comment further while proceedings are continuing."
