Southwest Airlines has been hit with a personal injury lawsuit over toxic airplane air. According to Courthouse News Service, the federal complaint was filed by two twin sisters who claim they and other passengers choked on toxic “super-heated” fumes that formed a “mist” in a Southwest airplane during flight.
The issue of toxic airplane air is a controversy that has dogged the airline industry for years. Earlier this year, a joint investigation by German and Swiss TV networks claimed to have found high levels of a dangerous toxin on board several planes. The chemicals found in the samples included high levels of tricresyl phosphate (TCP), an organophosphate contained in modern jet oil as an antiwear additive, which can lead to drowsiness, headaches, respiratory problems or neurological illnesses.
Critics of the airline industry claim that the system used to re-circulate air in airplanes does not remove fumes or vapors from the engine. The process involves combining re-circulated existing cabin air with air bled off the engines. The air pulled into the engines is cooled and compressed before it is pumped into the cabin. If this system malfunctions, chemical contaminants can end up circulating through the airplane, creating a so-called fume event.
The United Kingdom’s Committee on Toxicity said in 2007 that pilots reported such fume events in 1 percent of flights. The group also said that maintenance inspected and confirmed incidents in 0.05 percent of flights. According to the National Research Council, such fume events could occur on four out of every 1,000 flights.
Valerie and Victoria Vaughns’ lawsuit claims that that one hour into their flight from Los Angeles, passengers began having trouble breathing. The pilot announced had been a malfunction, and as he engaged the engines for a steep ascent, “super-heated air” blew out of the ventilation system and a “mist” appeared to hang in the cabin. The plane made an emergency landing in Albuquerque, and a fire marshal escorted passengers off the plane, the complaint says.
According to Courthouse News Service, the Vaughns claim to have suffered pressure in their heads, nausea, rashes, fatigue, uncontrollable tremors, weight loss and central and peripheral nervous system damage as a result of the incident. The complaint alleges that toxic fumes emitted during the flight were bleed air that was contaminated with hot engine oil when the pilot put the engines on full thrust.
<You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
October 30th, 2009 at 10:32 am
Why didn’t they just hold their breathes until the plane landed?
November 2nd, 2009 at 9:10 am
Sounds to me the Twin Sisters are looking for deep pockets!!!! How many other passengers got sick!!!!.Good luck ladies. A fellow passenger.
November 2nd, 2009 at 6:31 pm
Has anyone heard of the words Tort Reform. If these hags knew that they might have to pay the legal fees of SWA if they loose, we would not be talking about this. Instead they see a cash cow that will costs them nothing to try to milk!
November 8th, 2009 at 2:25 am
Being flight crew myself with well over a decade of working on jet aircraft. Let me tell you… these fumes do happen and frequently so. I have become chronically ill and disabled from exposure to similar fumes. I used to be a vibrant, healthy, active person. My life has been taken from me because I was never told that the fumes we are regularly exposed to are toxic and can cause permanent neurological and physical harm. I am the 1st to be against frivolous law suits; however, who is going to take care of these wrongfully exposed passengers and crew? When most of the laws protect the big corporations and allow things like this to remain hidden and covered up. The only choice is to sue. Trust me, you can go from having a wonderful (so you thought) career to being almost out on the street in a very short time when you become to sick to be able to work. Not everyone is out for a quick buck. Some just want their health and lives back. These women will be lucky if their health does not continue to deteriorate in to more sinister debilitating neurological illness such as MS, Park., ALS etc. which these chemicals are know to cause.
November 17th, 2009 at 7:00 am
This sounds like a bunch of bull to me. These sisters are just trying to get money. If it is true that they had an emergency descent there is no way the pilots would have put the engines to full thrust as that is the exact opposite of what they do. If what is stated above really came from the sisters, than i hope their lawyer isnt ignorant enough to buy it or that Southwest’s lawyers catch that. What is this country coming to?