Photo - PYOK
United Airlines Flight Attendant is Suing European Aircraft Manufacturer Airbus For $30 Million Over Cabin Air Incident
BY MATEUSZ MASZCZYNSKI
25th May 2025
‘A United Airlines flight attendant who has been on sick leave since April 2023 after she allegedly breathed in “poisonous and toxic contaminated air” while working on an Airbus A319 aircraft is suing the European aerospace giant over what she describes as the manufacturer’s “dirty little secret.”
Darlene Fricchione was an otherwise healthy flight attendant who now suffers from a multitude of serious health complaints after she breathed in “contaminated” air shortly after United flight UA-2680 from LaGuardia landed at Denver International Airport on April 11, 2023.’
© 2024 paddleyourownkanoo.com
It’s so good to hear that a crew member has been able to find a lawyer to take on the might of Airbus who up until now has been legally untouchable.
We wish Ms Fricchione all the very best and hope she is receiving the care and support she needs.
A new investigative feature length documentary film 'This is your captain speaking' will premiere at the 33rd Raindance Film Festival in London at 5pm on Monday 23 June 2025.
There will be an additional screening on the 24th June at 12.30pm.
To book tickets on the film festival website please visit:
https://raindance.eventive.org/schedule/this-is-your-captain-speaking-68234eda5e47ea122831f800
‘In this documentary, a former airline Captain Tristan Loraine dives deep into what the aviation industry really knows about the quality of the air you breathe in flight.
His investigation spans more than 20 years and reveals an aircraft design flaw, known to the aerospace industry since the 1950s. A fail dangerous flaw that allows the breathing air to become contaminated with a complex mixture of chemicals that manufacturers warn you should not breathe. Speaking with experts, he uncovers the health and flight safety consequences of exposure to contaminated air in aircraft, the risks it poses to crews and the travelling public and reveals work he initiated on a new blood test that confirms an exposure.
The film reveals undisclosed internal agreements withheld from Government enquiries, secret memos, altered hospital records and key legal battles. Personal stories and first-hand witness accounts from air crew and passengers caught in severe toxic fume events and pilots incapacitated and unable to fly their plane, lead us to ask: why is the air quality onboard aircraft not being continuously monitored when air accident investigators have been calling on the industry to do so for over a decade?’
‘DENIAL, COLLUSION AND SECRET DEALS.
WHAT THE AVIATION INDUSTRY HASN’T TOLD YOU.’
(Trailer in the link below)
© 2025 Fact Not Fiction Films.
https://thisisyourcaptainspeakingfilm.com/
‘2024 Aircraft Cabin Air Conference predications become reality
By Aircraft Cabin Air Conference
22 May 2025
‘Last year, the preliminary findings of the EU funded and industry supported research into the topic, announced that mice exposed to heated engine oil decomposition products suffered no health effects. This week, a published paper from the University of Washington in Seattle, looking at humans exposed to the same oils and reporting health effects after exposures, showed specific protein decoration. The paper is the first paper from an ongoing research project funded by the military and unions to develop a blood test to confirm exposure. This new paper brings into question the EU industry supported research findings and confirms a definitive blood test to confirm exposure is not far from becoming reality for the travelling public and airline crews.’
© 2025 FlightGlobal.com
This is the recently ‘published paper’ mentioned in the article above:
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.04.17.25326021v4.full.pdf
Germany (2017)
‘Health, Science and Economic interests in Aerotoxic Syndrome
The (medical - biochemical) problem:
It's a little bit comparable to the one associated with "alcohol": some can tolerate a lot and the alcohol breaks down quickly, in others it takes longer and the consequences are quicker and stronger.
In general, such biochemical processes in the human organism are called metabolism. Meaning: substances are metabolized or broken down by the body's own enzymes. In the end other substances have been formed and/or have been excreted.
We now know that people who are exposed to a fume event situation, can react differently:
To about 60% of people who fly, whether as passengers, flight attendants or pilots, a single, or a few such incidents’ apparently cause no harm. According to the previous (provisional) knowledge, because empirically valid data does not yet exist. No one has to date investigated this extensively in connection with contaminated cabin air.
About 35% of people who fly and have a one-off event, have a reaction but not overly bad and above all not with long-term effects. If this scenario happens on a vacation flight and one can then relax for two or three weeks at the beach, the body has enough strength to get rid of toxins.
For 3% to 5% however, according to the estimates of physicians who deal with such problems, fume events are a serious problem: they respond quickly to such toxic substances and most of the consequences will remain. Medically speaking, the endogenous enzyme acetylcholinesterase (AChE) is rendered inactive by, for example, organophosphates or other substances that enter the aircraft via the bleed air. And that’s when the problems begin.
And exactly these problems are discussed here.’
‘So the facts are - actually - obvious. But: they are not in line with the economic interests of the aviation business. The airlines would have to convert their entire fleet or even exchange it . Switching from bleed air to ram air which in the mean time has been done in the Dreamliner (Boeing 787) (air intake at the rear) is not that easy. For Lufthansa, for example, that would involve more than 700 aircraft.
And, as long as there is no pressure from the customers, the passengers (in the parlance of the industry: "pax"), because they are unaware of the problem and the connection of a possible health problem to a particular flight or flight event is even less clear, the industry can rely on the imperceptibility (non-perceptibility) of this connection.’
© DokZentrum ansTageslicht.de
Germany (2017)
‘Contaminated Cabin Air: A Health Problem becomes certainty.
The Chronology of the socalled Aerotoxic Syndrome
‘Passengers should never be exposed to health risks when flying! This is one of the principles of the European Aviation Safety Agency, EASA. Nevertheless, there is a health risk: in the form of contaminated cabin air. Although it is now medically provable that flying can deposit toxins in the body of passengers, pilots and flight attendants, the entire industry wraps itself in a silent cloak. Likewise the authorities.
Here, we reconstruct how the problem of contaminated cabin air came to pass. And why it still is one to this day. You can access this site directly and link under this short , easy to remember permalink www.ansTageslicht.de/cabinairchronology
The chronology terminates end of 2017. To get informed what's going on and what's not and why not, please look for the AeroToxic LogBook in ENglish:’
© DokZentrum ansTageslicht.de
U.K. - House of Lords Science & Technology Committee 2007/8 - Report with Evidence
Page 126 -
‘Letter from Dr G A Jamal, MB ChB MD PhD FRCP
CABIN AIR SAFETY
I am submitting this on a personal basis. My qualifications are MB ChB MD PhD FRCP. I am a consultant physician with specialisation in the field of clinical neurophysiology and I have a special interest in the neurological and neurophysiological assessment of the effects of neurotoxic factors on the peripheral and central nervous system. I have published extensively on the effect of organophosphate compounds on human health.
Within the last few years I have seen many pilots, co-pilots and cabin crew members as well as passengers who have had episodes of exposure to fume incidents. I have run extensive neurological and clinical neurophysiological assessment on them.
Aircrews have presented for testing some time after advising of exposures to aircraft contaminated air, specifically oil lubricant exposure containing organophosphates and a mixture of hydrocarbons. Given that the toxic substances involved in air fume contamination events have high affinity to lipid material and given that the bulk of the nervous system both peripheral and central is phospholipids, the nervous system is one of the prime toxic targets and is one of the most seriously affected systems in the body both in the short term and in the longer term.
I found that the most commonly encountered manifestations include confusion, drowsiness, fogginess in the head, excessive tiredness, loss of balance and co-ordination, dizziness, clumsiness, headaches, pins and needles and numbness sensation in the extremities, generalised pain and aches. Other common manifestations include difficulty with concentration and short term memory, mood changes, disturbances of sleep and difficulty in finding words. There may be development of intolerance to alcohol and increased sensitivity to a number of chemicals. Other common manifestations include visual blurring, tinnitus, sweating disturbances, bloating, nausea, loss of sexual drive and frequency of micturition.
We have investigated these cases systematically and thoroughly with tests looking at the function of the peripheral and central nervous system and the autonomic nervous system. The tests undertaken include EMG and Nerve Conduction Studies, Quantitative Sensory Tests (large fibre VPT and small fibre TTT), Single Fibre Jitter measurement, Multimodality Evoked Potentials (VEP, BAEP & SEP), Cognitive Evoked Potential (CEP & P300) and EEG. Other useful investigations include Neuropsychometric Tests and Autonomic Nervous System Tests. We have aspired to do Brain Functional Imaging (PET & SPECT Scan) but have not done so purely because of cost issues. We have found evidence of abnormalities in this group of patients to variable degrees including peripheral neuropathy particularly small fibre neuropathy and other central abnormalities as well as evidence of dysautonomia with a particular pattern. The findings seen are similar to those found in cases of exposure to organophosphate esters and solvents. Accurate diagnosis is essential not only to characterise the ailment but also to instigate effective management.
18 June 2007’
Page 127
‘Letter from Dr Peter Julu, Specialist Autonomic Neurophysiologist and Consultant Physician
‘EARLY EVIDENCE OF SPECIFIC AUTONOMIC NEUROPATHY IN AIRCREWS
I have carried out target-organ specific examination of the autonomic nervous system in a group of aircrews (n = 9) who developed chronic neurological symptoms during the course of their duties and compared the outcomes with a group of coal miners (n = 6) who also became ill following exposure to carbon monoxide due to ventilation accidents, in order to establish the pattern of autonomic dysfunctions in the two groups. The neurological sequelae I found in miners exposed to carbon monoxide and aircrews complaining of ill health consist of a patchy pattern of dysfunctions of the autonomic target organs in various parts of body but mainly in the skin, in the large blood vessels including the heart and in the brain. These neurological sequelae can explain the symptoms and ill health in these two groups of patients. Cholinergic functions are selectively preserved while monoaminergic functions deteriorate in the brain and in the skin among the aircrews. The imbalance between cholinergic and monoaminergic functions in the brain can explain cognitive dysfunction and impairment of short-term memory. The pattern of autonomic dysfunctions in the aircrews is distinctively different from that in miners exposed to carbon monoxide.
I am continuing to see more aircrews in my clinics and the pattern of autonomic dysfunctions in these patients is consistent. This is a compelling reason for further investigation, first to confirm the findings in the aircrews by examining a larger number and then to investigate possible common toxic agents among sheep farmers and aircrews. This is so because the pattern of autonomic dysfunctions in sheep farmers and the aircrews is identical.
17 June 2007’
https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200708/ldselect/ldsctech/7/7.pdf
EASA Study:
The link below contains comments made on the EASA website regarding their study results in 2009/10.
These comments were from F. Ballestero of ETF - the European Transport Workers Federation and for anyone interested in this subject of contaminated air in aircraft are well worth reading:
Finally, more published fume events:
Incident: TAP A21N over Atlantic on May 26th 2025, fumes on board.
https://avherald.com/h?article=528465c2&opt=0
Incident: Canadian North AT42 at Iqaluit on May 14th 2025, smoke in cockpit
https://avherald.com/h?article=528133ad&opt=0
Re - Accident: Delta B712 at Atlanta on Feb 24th 2025, haze in cabin
On May 21st 2025 the NTSB released their preliminary report summarizing the sequence of events
https://avherald.com/h?article=52481feb&opt=0
Incident: Easyjet Europe A319 at Berlin on May 20th 2025, smoke in cockpit
https://avherald.com/h?article=527fd735&opt=0
Incident: Kalitta B772 near Detroit on May 6th 2025, smoke in cockpit
https://avherald.com/h?article=52773b5d&opt=0
Incident: Swiss B773 near Singapore on May 4th 2025, smell in cockpit
https://avherald.com/h?article=52749d47&opt=0
Incident: Jet2 B738 near Luxembourg on May 3rd 2025, smoke on board
https://avherald.com/h?article=5273d4ed&opt=0
Incident: Easyjet Europe A21N at Milan on May 3rd 2025, smoke in cabin
https://avherald.com/h?article=5273c86a&opt=0
Incident: American A320 at Dallas on Apr 28th 2025, smoke in cockpit and deteriorating communication
https://avherald.com/h?article=52731fae&opt=0
Incident: Vueling A320 at Barcelona on Apr 29th 2025, smoke in cabin
https://avherald.com/h?article=5271dd14&opt=0
For further information on Aerotoxic Syndrome, useful medical information, testimonies from victims, Aerotoxic legal cases and much more - please visit the Unfiltered website:
In France, the Association des Victimes du Syndrome Aérotoxique - AVSA website holds a lot of information and advice and support is offered via the contact form:
https://www.syndrome-aerotoxique.com/
In the Netherlands, FlyAware NL also provide lots of information, they too offer advice and support:
https://flyaware.nl/en/stichting-fly-aware-2/
Through the FlyAware NL website you can register to take part in the study of brain damage in airline crew and frequent flyers conducted by Daniel Dumalin in Belgium:
https://flyaware.nl/en/short-articles/restart-study-on-brain-damage-by-daniel-dumalin/
https://www.dumalindaniel.eu/en/Research
Also in the Netherlands, is the Functional Neurology Institute:
‘Aerotoxic syndrome: therapeutic treatment
In order to ensure effective treatment of the aerotoxic syndrome, it is important not to muddle along for too long, but to have a professional diagnose the symptoms as soon as possible. The Functional Neurology Institute specialises, among other things, in diagnosing the aerotoxic syndrome as well as in the therapeutic treatment of the syndrome.’
https://www.fninstitute.com/en/complaints/brain-trauma/aerotoxic-syndrome
In the U.K. there is the Global Cabin Air Quality Executive- GCAQE:
‘A global coalition of health and safety advocates committed to raising awareness and finding solutions to poor air quality on aircraft.’
A link is provided for Medical Guidance.
Also in the U.K. is the British Society for Ecological Medicine (BSEM) whose practitioners are generally aware of Aerotoxic Syndrome and can offer testing, advice and support.
It’s a good idea to mention you have been exposed to fumes onboard aircraft when contacting them:
https://www.bsem.org.uk/pages/14-practitioners
Please sign and share this petition.
Many thanks for your continued support.