Toxic Fumes in Airplanes Pose Health Risk

Dr Susan Michaelis, who was a pilot for Australia’s Qantas airline and who has completed a PhD on the subject of toxic fumes, said that she became seriously ill due to such toxic fumes and had to stop flying.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has received a number of complaints over the last five years regarding the leakage of such fumes, with over 270 cases of engine oil leakages with fumes entering the cabin.

Dr Michaelis said that all of the planes should be fitted with warning systems so that the pilot can be informed whenever such leakages take place. “If you’ve been on an aircraft and smelled that funny odor it’s recognized that’s generally oil fumes. The passengers wouldn’t know. You wouldn’t know and if you were to get sick, it may not be related, but you wouldn’t know. People are getting sick. There are people getting sick and they are getting seriously sick”, she said.