Learning a few months ago that America’s major airlines outsource the heavy maintenance of their planes to Latin America—and in United’s case, to Communist China—only reaffirmed my dismal view of the obscenely-paid executives running America’s airline industry cartel: United, Delta, American, and Southwest.
Even more outrageous? Private equity has embedded its poisonous tentacles in the aircraft maintenance industry, acquiring some two dozen maintenance companies in the past year and reportedly viewing the sector as “ripe for consolidation plays.”
From a quality and security standpoint, outsourcing aircraft maintenance to low-wage countries like El Salvador and China strikes me as dimwitted. I instinctively doubted that El Al, Israel’s national airline, would trust foreigners with its safety—and sure enough, not only does El Al maintain its own fleet, but it also markets its maintenance services to others.
Honestly, I’d pay a premium to fly on a plane serviced by an El Al crew—a group I’d bet knows as much, if not more, about the planes they service than the manufacturers who built them.
Something Smells
Given my long-standing distrust of the airline cartel—and the disturbing details I uncovered writing about the FAA’s failure to police Boeing—my antenna shot up after reading that six American Airlines cabin crew members and a gate agent at Charlotte Douglas airport recently required medical attention, with some taken to area hospitals. A local TV station reported the cause as “inhalation.”
In recent months, I’ve noticed a rash of emergency landings due to engine fires, smoky cabins, and even a loose pigeon flying down the aisle. On a hunch, I asked myself: How rare is it for an entire airline crew to get sick from breathing the cabin air?
Within minutes, my worst fears were confirmed.
Turns out, so called “fume events” are not rare—and there’s considerable evidence they can potentially cause serious, long-term health damage. Just how frequent? No one knows, because the FAA reportedly blew off a 2003 Congressional mandate to track them.
Just the other day, an Air India flight bound for Chennai was forced to return to Mumbai after crew reported a burning smell in the cabin. Delta passenger Dennis Ramkissoon is suing the airline, claiming he and his 3-year-old daughter suffered a “traumatic medical emergency” due to chemical odors during an April flight from Orlando to Atlanta.
According to the lawsuit, the incident occurred aboard a more-than-20-year-old Boeing 757, when a strong odor—described as engine oil or exhaust—filled the cabin during taxi. Both passengers reportedly experienced nausea, dizziness, and headaches, and the child vomited and developed a fear of flying.
In March, a Delta flight bound for New Orleans returned to Boston after a “smoky odor” was detected. Last year, another Delta flight to Paris returned to the gate, and seven crew members were hospitalized due to cabin fumes.
“I Had Jet Fuel in My Blood”
Even Hollywood has had its close call. During a June 2022 interview on Late Night with Seth Meyers, actor Miles Teller of Top Gun fame described getting sick after being exposed to toxic fumes in a jet.
We landed, and I was just like, man, I’m not feeling too good. I was really hot, started itching like crazy, and when I got out of the jet I was just covered in hives—head to toe. I went to a doctor and did bloodwork, and it came back showing flame retardant, pesticides, and jet fuel in my blood.
The Perils of “Bleed Air”
Modern jet engines rely on synthetic oils and hydraulic fluids loaded with chemical additives to handle extreme heat and pressure. Most commercial aircraft pull air from the engines or an auxiliary power unit (APU)—a process called “bleed air.”
The air is unfiltered. And if the engine seals wear down or fail—which can happen due to age, poor maintenance, or inexperienced mechanics—traces of oil and fluid vapor can leak into the air supply. That toxic mix is then pumped straight into the cabin, where passengers and crew inhale it often without ever knowing.
Airlines like to tout their HEPA filters, but those are designed to remove bacteria and viruses—not superheated engine fumes or chemical vapors.
Exposure—even for minutes—has been linked to neurological, respiratory, cardiac, and cognitive problems. This condition is often referred to as “aerotoxic syndrome.”
To its credit, Boeing did engineer a solution—but only on one model.
The 787 widebody Dreamliner doesn’t use bleed air. Instead, it uses electric compressors to draw in outside air, which is then filtered and conditioned before entering the cabin. By physically separating the air supply from the engines, the 787 dramatically reduces the risk of fume events. It remains one of the only commercial aircraft designed to avoid this hazard altogether.
Bombshell Investigation
Five years ago, Kiera Feldman of the Los Angeles Times published a bombshell investigation titled: “How Toxic Fumes Seep Into the Air You Breathe on Planes.” The piece should burst the bubble of anyone who still trusts the FAA, Boeing, or the airline industry.
Feldman reported that toxic vapors seep into cabins with alarming frequency. The aftermath?
“Flight attendants vomit and pass out. Passengers struggle to breathe. Children are rushed to hospitals. Pilots reach for oxygen masks or gasp for air through open cockpit windows.”
Between January 2018 and December 2019, voluntary NASA safety reports logged 362 fume events, with nearly 400 crew and passengers requiring medical attention. On 73 of those flights, pilots used emergency oxygen, Feldman reported. Four dozen were so impaired they couldn’t perform their duties.
Given that the FAA doesn’t mandate that all fume events be reported, a researcher from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health concluded that the NASA reports were only the “tip of the iceberg.”
Boeing’s Lawsuit Fears
Feldman revealed that Boeing once acknowledged the problem internally. A 1953 study flagged “The Air Contamination Problem.” A 2007 safety advisory warned that oil fumes could damage the nervous system. In 2001, Boeing even solicited sensor designs to detect contaminated air within 60 seconds.
GE and Honeywell submitted proposals. One Boeing manager wrote that GE’s approach “appears to be sound.”
Then Boeing walked away.
Why? Legal exposure.
In a 2018 deposition reviewed by Feldman, senior engineer George Bates admitted that Boeing feared that sensor data could be used in lawsuits. “How long will it take until the readings have to be recorded and available not only for maintenance, but for the lawyers?” Bates wrote in an internal email.
Another engineer called the idea of sharing that data: “Crazy!”
Bates noted that Boeing 757s were being diverted every two weeks because of air quality issues. He warned the FAA should’ve intervened.
“Bottom line is I think we are looking for a tombstone before anyone with any horsepower is going to take interest.”
The FAA? ‘Nothing to Worry About’
While the FAA funded a medical guide in 2009 acknowledging the long-term neurological and respiratory effects of fume exposure, the agency has no tracking system—despite a 2003 Congressional directive to implement one, Feldman reported.
Yet the FAA has repeatedly assured the public that fume events are rare and that the air on planes is superior to the air on the ground. The agency told Congress in 2003 that airlines “have the added benefit of flying at altitudes above the air pollution.”
The agency referenced studies showing “less than 33 [fume] events per million” flights. But a 2015 study by Kansas State University funded by the FAA concluded that the actual frequency is more than six times higher — about 1 out of every 5,000 flights. A top Boeing official said in a deposition that the study’s finding was accurate.
Airline industry “experts” often dismiss symptoms as “somatic”—code for psychosomatic. As Dr. Robert Harrison, a UCSF medical professor who treated over 100 affected crew members, told Feldman: “It’s a polite way of saying the flight attendants are crazy—mostly hysterical women.”
Airport Reading
If you find yourself stranded in an airport due to “maintenance” or “computer issues,” use the downtime to read Kiera Feldman’s explosive Los Angeles Times investigation. It features flight crew members who claim they suffered lasting, even career-ending harm from repeated exposure to toxic cabin fumes.
This sharp report by The Canary, an independent European outlet, is also well worth your time. And for those who want to dig deeper, check out the Aerotoxic Association Ltd. Charity, founded in 2007 by a former airline pilot to support fellow survivors—both crew and passengers—and to collaborate with international watchdogs like the Global Cabin Air Quality Executive (GCAQE). That group was formed to challenge the still-official industry line: “No positive evidence.”
It likely won’t calm your nerves. But it might sharpen your nose—and educate you on why the odor of jet fuel shouldn’t be ignored.
If you smell something, say something.