How do you know?

How do you know when exposures are occuring?

All contaminated air events vary but signs to look out for are:

When you board an aircraft is there a smell? 

Various terms used by crew and passengers worldwide to describe the smell include:

• Dirty socks
• Wet dog
• Oily
• Chemical
• Musty
• Burning
• Vomit

It is important to always remember that many chemicals, like carbon monoxide have NO smell. No smell does not mean no exposure. Your ability to smell goes within minutes so first impressions are important. Aircraft DO NOT have any form of contaminated air detection systems. Many contaminated air events can be a faint background odour, extreme events may result in misting of the passenger cabin.

A contaminated air event may occur at any stage of the flight and may be intermittent or constant but occur most frequently during the take off & landing phases.

Another sign to look out for are other passengers coughing who weren’t coughing before, or other passengers feeling unwell and requiring oxygen.