Airline pilots are in danger of being disorientated by toxic fumes while in flight, a new study has revealed.
Released by the Government’s committee on toxicity, the report concludes that there is a “large body of anecdotal and descriptive evidence” that crew are being affected by poor air quality when ventilation systems suck in the aircraft’s fumes as well as fresh air.
Although no final conclusions have been reached, the Department for Transport is now hoping to begin tests on thousands of flights to see just how bad the problem is.
The British Air Line Pilots Association – which said pilots have complained that the problem is particularly bad on the BAe 146 and the Boeing 757 – welcomed the study.
BALPA chairman Mervyn Granshaw said: “We believe that all stakeholders in our industry need to work together to better understand the problem of contaminated air and we will press for this bipartisan approach to continue.”