This Week’s Featured Link
‘WE ARE SLOWLY BEING POISONED’ HOW TOXIC FUMES SEEP INTO THE AIR YOU BREATHE ON PLANES – Los Angeles Times
The LA Times published a longform piece on aircraft fume events. There’s too much sensationalism in here, and there seems to be a misunderstanding about just how air gets into the cabin, but let’s get beyond that. Ultimately here’s how I see this. Fume events happen infrequently. They aren’t great. Let’s use sensors to detect when there’s a problem. With that line of belief, you won’t be surprised to see that I think Boeing comes off looking pretty bad.
Two for the Road
JSX files lawsuit against Orange County Airport – JSX News
The saga in Orange County continues. JSX was told it had to operate in the terminal or not at all. JSX didn’t like that plan. Just last month it extended schedules and added routes into 2021 from Orange County. I asked if it was resolved, and a spokesperson for JSX told me “The airport has extended JSX’s customer allocation for 2021 and we are expanding our service to cities that we know our loyal Orange County customers desire.” The airport, however, told me nothing had changed. Apparently, the airport was right, because now it’s in court.
Alitalia to Take off With a Halved Fleet, 5,000 Employees
It’s time for Alitalia #3,095! Time to get excited.
11 comments on “3 Links I Love: Fume Events, JSX Sues John Wayne, Alitalia Lives”
Are you kidding me? That video landed in my FB newsfeed and now I can’t unsee it. It’s so garish and roll-my-eyes-into-next-month absurd that I’m wondering if I can’t sue someone for emotional trauma.
I’m a fan of a lot of 80’s music. But that is one of the few that was better off left in the dumpster (along with the likes of Debbie Gibson, Martika, and Bon Jovi). But of all the songs to exhume, had to be this one? I get the whole “safety” thing. But come on. This kind of over the top silliness completely undermines the reason for the video in the first place. I can’t wait to hear what Patrick Smith would have to say about it.
Also…so how about Southwest and Fresno? ;-)
I understand your sentiment with this video, but I must take issue with your take on Debbie Gibson. She may not have been as transcendent as say Madonna at that time, but she was a dam good singer. If you want to substitute in Tiffany her rival at that time, then you have something.
As for JSX, reading the initial headline made me wonder how John Wayne would have responded… “How you doing pilgrim?”
LAT: “A Times analysis of NASA safety reports from January 2018 to December 2019 identified 362 fume events that airline crew members reported to the agency, with nearly 400 pilots, flight attendants and passengers receiving medical attention. During at least 73 of those flights, pilots used emergency oxygen. Four dozen pilots were described as impaired to the point of being unable to perform their duties.”
Cranky: “…but let’s get beyond that.”
Consider running for office as a Republican. This’ll resonate with the base.
Danwriter1 – Talk about warping my words. Sounds like you might have a career in politics yourself.
My point is that arguing over just how often it happens is useless. Put sensors on the airplanes. Then we will be able to detect when there’s an issue and stop it from happening. I don’t care how often it happens. It’s something that can easily be detected.
Wow, that was a harsh response. Cranky’s response was actually let’s install sensors to improve earlier detection of these events. Also, based on the many articles I’ve read by Cranky over the years, I would argue he’s more of advocate for PAX/crew rights than one who panders to “big business.” But sure, continue your baseless attacks.
The problem w/ the fume events is not unlike the uniform issues that have plagued multiple airlines. It is certain that there are some chemicals that cause some reactions to some people but there is far from enough data on any one of those “some”s to come to any definitive scientific conclusion.
Whether sensors are a viable solution or not is not something we can figure out here; there does seem to be some things that have been suggested to minimize or eliminate risk and those involve maintenance. There are also some oils that are reported to have greater issues as well as certain planes beyond just the 787 and its bleedless air system.
There needs to be more work done to understand how to keep these things from happening in the first place since they clearly are not frequent events; there are obviously certain triggers or causes.
Given how quickly some of these events happen, sensors might be a “too little, too late” solution. Getting to the root of the problem seems more what is needed.
I don’t understand why sticking a lousy ~$200 carbon monoxide sensor on a plane is so controversial. In California you have to have one per every “bedroom area” just to sell your house. Considering the ones I get at Home Depot are $50 and I’m sure a real nice one is likely $200 this seems to be a quick solution to the problem. Throw it in the cockpit where apparently there is more of a problem judging by the reports. I’m not sure who looks worse — Boeing or the airlines that wouldn’t let flight attendants follow through on a FAA study. Interesting article and good link — thanks.
Who remembers the hydraulic fluid smell during engine start on the L-1011?
I miss that….
I don’t remember the smell, but I sure miss the sound they made.
No easy answers on the cabin air issue. A lot has been written over the years on this – see the Aviation Herald article: https://avherald.com/h?article=4b6eb830
This article goes back 5 years, and while focused on Spirit Airlines – and they had a spate of these incidents, it is not unique to them.
If Alitalia gets its act together, what will you write about? LOL, I’m sure there will be plenty to write about, of course. I hope you’ve had a great holiday season so far.