There is no doubt anymore that contamined cabin air can have adverse effects on pilots’ health. That’s why BeCA has been very active on this topic at national, European and international levels. Below, you will find a short summary of two events that took place recently on this issue.

GCAQE Annual Conference, 17-18 September

Flying can result in severe health problems due to contaminated cabin air. To gain more insights and receive an update on the latest academic research on the topic, BeCA and ACV participated in the GCAQE (Global Cabin Air Quality Executive) Cabin Air conference held at King’s College London on 17-18 September 2019. The event featured over 200 participants and 30 international speakers. Their conclusion was unanimous: currently, more than 100 peer-reviewed papers have been published on the topic and there should be no more debate about the adverse effects of cabin air contamination on our health. Cabin air contamination must be taken seriously and action needs to be taken now.

Manufacturers are developing technical solutions for detection and filtration, While the ultimate solution is to have bleed free aircraft in the future, these new technologies can help to mitigate the risk at its source.

The GCAQE is developing a standardised medical protocol based on current scientific data and toxicological expertise. BeCA has long been advocating for a post-event medical follow-up and is looking forward to the publication of the final paper by the end of the year.

Reporting: we cannot overemphasise it. We need your reports! Don’t forget: if we don’t report, there is no problem.

Aerotoxic Symposium, 10 October

In order to create more awareness on CAQ among flight and cabin crew and bring the information from the GCAQE conference closer to home, BeCA was eager to join ACV Puls in organising an information evening on Aerotoxic Syndrome on 10 October 2019. The evening was a big success with over 65 attendants including pilots, cabin crew members, union representatives, lawyers and press.

After a brief welcome by Mary-Roos Nijs and Paul Buekenhout on behalf of ACV,  BeCA chairman Rudy Pont sketched a general picture of the problem. Next up was, Dutch doctor Michel Mulder, former Medical Examiner and airline pilot, who presented his current research on crew diagnosis after a fume-event. After the break, Dr Daniel Dumalin, a Belgian research psychologist specializing in neurophysiology with 29 years of clinical experience in qEEG (quantitative EEG) and ERP (Event-Related Potentials) in the detection of functional and neurological disorders presented the (preliminary) conclusions of his research. Followed by Dr Jon Midavaine Head of clinic Lifemedic for Orthomolecular Medicine who focussed on health improvements. The evening was concluded by former KLM captain Ap van der Kraats (http://flyaware.nl) whose career was cut short due to Aerotoxic Syndrome.

Have a look at the BeCA website (http://bit.ly/2oV126S) where you can find all the presentations and the speakers’ biographies.