Airline workers warn of dangerous fumes in passenger cabins

Dallas

THE smell of jet fuel is fairly common in the passenger cabin when your plane is preparing to taxi. Far less so is the aroma of dirty socks, rancid cheese, or a wet dog - the typical unpleasant notice that engine oil vapours have seeped in, too.

These smells are usually found in jet engine "bleed air", which is outside air that's been shunted from the engines into an air-conditioning system and then to the cabin. In various systems - cabin pressurisation, water-tank storage pressure, even heating to dissipate wing ice - this air is highly useful to the plane's operation.

Yet, when engine seals deteriorate, the bleed air can mix with fumes from high-temperature synthetic engine oil. At …