Row 17 On Airbus Causes Passengers To Pass Out

Something is very wrong with the aircondition system at Airbus planes. At least in Scandinavia there is. I don´t know which airbus model(s) this applies to, but they are own by SAS. The problem is that passengers sitting on row 17 passes out. This problem has been known for a while now but not to the public. They were very worried that this could cause the pilots to pass out as well, but it seems like row 17 is the spot in the plane where the passengers passes out. They have paid a lot of passengers money to get them to keep their mouths shut about this. Now the story breaks in Sweden and Norway. I assume Denmark will bring the story today as well.

Expressen.se: Passagerare svimmar i SAS-planen (in Swedish...)

Nettavisen: Passasjerer svimer av i SAS-fly (in Norwegian...)

I recall being told once that the blanket 'no smoking' order on planes nowadays was an excuse for airlines to save pennies on the airchanging/aircon system.

(Margins being so tight)

With smoking banned the air smells cleaner so they don't bother changing the air in the cabin as often as they used to and the paying customer doesn't notice it.

So people get lots and lots of nice cool but recirculated air (along with the bugs and viruses etc etc exhaled by the other passangers that have them).

Maybe it's an urban myth, maybe not.
I know several people who always complain that they get ill after flying. Short and long haul.

Anyhoo.....
For all that I would be very suspicious of attempting to label this as an 'Airbus' fault.
Far more likely IMO would be that it is due to the operating regime the particular airline operates.

to post a couple wild guesses about the cause, probability, and explinations:

1) Toxic air/CO2 or CO poisening. 5%. I don't think this is the most likely, as Hellmutt said it seemed localised to row 17

2) Ideally suited with harmonics. 35%. Far more likely that this particular location in the plane creates an overly soothing atmosphere between the engine whine and natural vibration inherent to flinging a large piece of aluminum through the sky. (need more data, are we talkng "falling asleep" or "Russian hostage rescue gas"?)

3) Alien abduction coverup. .01%. Really, if Aliens were abducting people out of row 17, wouldn't they grab the whole plane while they're at it?

4) Electromagnetic influence. .1%. While ten times as likely as the Alien abduction suggestion, the idea that all aircraft in a series have demonstrated the exact same influence of RF inside the airframe, (knowing full well that designers LOVE to find excuses to move antenna and such around), I don't think it likely.

5) reinforced coincidence. 60%. A nice way of saying mass hysteria. If it happens once and someone thinks it's strange, they may ask around and find that someone else fell asleep or passed out in that same chair. (nevermind half the plane passing out during the flight) Believing they're on to something, they continue finding individuals who've passed out in now infamous row 17, each positive case being more evidence that something's abnormal about that row.

[edit on 17-1-2006 by Travellar]

Originally posted by sminkeypinkey
I recall being told once that the blanket 'no smoking' order on planes nowadays was an excuse for airlines to save pennies on the airchanging/aircon system.

You're close. The problem is related to the outflow valves becoming caked with brown nicotine which is expensive to clean/replace. When the outflow valves become caked up, they don't operate as well which directly affects the pressurization system.

I've seen aircraft exteriors just aft of the outflow valves caked with brown crap; indicating the toxicity of the air inside. The air inside is now significantly less toxic than it was when they permitted smoking on US flights.

While a percentage of the air IS recirculated, it is simply a myth that it is dangerous since fresh air is constanty being introduced. Also, the air being breathed by the pilots is completely separate from the cabin (passenger) air.

I highly doubt the legitimacy of those articles; though, as someone who hates Airbus aircraft, welcomes the news

I read in two different danish newspapers (paper version) today that Airbus has been trying to solve this problem for two years. They still haven´t figured it out and call it a mystery. They think they know it must have something to do with the aircondition system. The passengers faint because of lack of Oxygene or something like that. This only happens on longdistance flights. The newspapers also said the problem was occuring on Airbus models 330 and 340.

Originally posted by sminkeypinkey
I recall being told once that the blanket 'no smoking' order on planes nowadays was an excuse for airlines to save pennies on the airchanging/aircon system.

(Margins being so tight)

I do know that the old nicotine stains on the fuselage were brilliant for spotting cracks in the fuselage structure. A great means of NDT I'm told.

Originally posted by kilcoo316
I do know that the old nicotine stains on the fuselage were brilliant for spotting cracks in the fuselage structure. A great means of NDT I'm told.

I spent a few months doing D checks on 747's being converted to cargo planes and you are exactly right kilcool316. We would inspect the entire fuselage looking for the brown stains from cigarette smoke at the seams of the panels. Then we would mark these for repair.

Originally posted by Freedom_for_sum
I highly doubt the legitimacy of those articles; though, as someone who hates Airbus aircraft, welcomes the news

DOH! how could I forget that one?

6) actually a farce perpertrated by someone with an axe to grind. 60%. Get a hundred people to read a semi-plausable report, and get at least 1 to believe it. Get one to believe it, and re-report it, and someone else who heard the first report has it reinforced. Everyone else denies it? HA! Proof of conspiricy!

Originally posted by Freedom_for_sum
You're close. The problem is related to the outflow valves becoming caked with brown nicotine which is expensive to clean/replace. When the outflow valves become caked up, they don't operate as well which directly affects the pressurization system. :

Ding ding ding we have a winner. Aside from the obvious health benifits, the amount of maintenace in the air systems required back in the day on those 747 comming across the pacific was hedoius (I spent a summer years ago at SFO as a baggage handler). The techs would talk about scraping the tar etc out of filters etc with a putty scraper

Air conditioning plants and pressurazation systems eat up fuel so if you circulate cabin air less you save money. I recall reading somewhere that the 757 has the worse air quality of most jets because of its less frequent air exchanges from the get go.

Yes, the nicotine cakes up the air valves and stain the aircraft. But an unusual side issue from that, is that cracks and air leaks are now much harder to find. The stains used to mark where the leak was at.

I'm thinking this would be either a harmonic vibration knocking people out, or an area of the aircraft that doesn't get good air flow. A dead spot that collects carbon dioxide from respiration. Or even simpler, it's a seat that can't see the movie very well, so people might as well sleep instead.