Photograph: Aeroinside.

Spirit Airlines Fume Event 27 February 2019

https://www.avherald.com/h?article=4c4cde49&opt=0

We were given more details of this Fume Event from one of our friends in the U.S. on Saturday night:

‘Flight Attendant in ICU critical condition dealing with Stroke and Paralysis. Undergoing treatment with TPA blood thinner for a brain hemorrhage.

Flight Number NK424 - Los Angeles to Minneapolis - 27 February 2019
Airbus A319 Registration: N531NK

This aircraft was written up for maintenance issues on 2/26 in LAX. The Flight Attendant was advised by maintenance in OAK that the aircraft had still been flying broken and was still incurring significant unaddressed serious maintenance issues. The plane flew OAK to LAX even with mechanical problems and incurred an electrical failure inflight.

Heavy fuel and undetermined chemical vapors were reported in the cabin by the crew. They began to have severe nose burning with headaches and watering eyes. The Capt then turned off one air pack. The odor came back again even stronger this time. Heavy vapor smells throughout the cabin.

The Capt responded sounding distressed and stated that they would be diverting to Las Vegas. He asked if they wanted to have the oxygen masks dropped in the cabin for the passengers that were having difficulty breathing.

Flight Attendants were transported to the hospital for blood testing and evaluation upon landing where they were met by Spirit Airlines Management for debriefing. One flight attendant had a stroke and developed paralysis where she was treated with TPA blood thinner for a brain hemorrhage.

Airline management is trying to make excuses for her injury as well as the event in general. This aircraft is in LAX today where it was just canceled. As the airline was still trying to fly it today without repairs.‘

Knowledge is Power

Aviation Travel Writer: The Flight Times Blog
FUME EVENT: "Aviation's Travel Writer"
https://aviationtravelwriter.wordpress.com/

Anyone who believes that fumes onboard aircraft are not harming people and are not dangerous, please think again. This flight attendant is very ill and will probably never work again.
This airline continued to fly the same aircraft without repairs for four more flights before eventually grounding it. It was grounded at 00.45 on 2nd March but was back in service that evening at 20.22. (Which is very little time to complete any decontamination of the air conditioning system). An aircraft on the ground is not making money for the airline.

People ask ‘why is it always the flight attendants who get injured and not the passengers?’ In some fume events passengers do receive injuries and there have been cases of frequent fliers becoming ill from regular low level exposure also. There are probably many passengers who have been made ill from the toxic air onboard aircraft but they just haven’t made that connection.
It all depends on the individual’s ability to process and eliminate the toxins from their body. You have to remember that flight attendants are flying all the time, day in and day out and lots of flights each day in some cases. When you are exposed to toxic chemicals on a regular basis - even in small concentrations, (which happens generally in bleed air aircraft) the body can reach a point where it can no longer remove them. Some people are more sensitive/susceptible than others, hence some passengers receiving injuries from the fumes also. You only have to look at the very high incidence of crew deaths, cancer, heart attacks and other very serious illnesses at very young ages to understand there is something very wrong happening within the airline industry and it has been known for a very long time.
Flight attendants today are also working much harder than in the past. Crew today have to be more ‘productive’ but being productive within the airline industry can be very detrimental to health. Long-haul trips which used to mean being away for 2-3 weeks have been reduced to 5/6 days, rest time between trips has also been drastically reduced. Short haul crew can now fly up to 4/5 flights in a day, whereas in the past they would only fly between 1 and 3 flights a day. 

http://gcaqe.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Reference-list-flight-safety-impact-of-oil-fumes.pdf

http://ashsd.afacwa.org/?zone=/unionactive/view_article.cfm&HomeID=1396

https://friedmanrubin.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/PR-Ex-4.pdf

http://pmep.cce.cornell.edu/profiles/extoxnet/TIB/manifestations.html

https://naturemed.org/how-toxins-cause-disease/

Please sign this petition for it to be made law for filters and sensors to be fitted to all (bleed-air) aircraft to help put an end to this.

If you have been involved in a Fume Event onboard an aircraft please let us know:
http://fumes.dallasmcintosh.co.uk

If you are cabin or flight crew please also report the event to your employer and ensure you send a copy of the document to your Union. It is important also to keep a copy for yourself for future reference.