The scientific adequacy of the present state of knowledge concerning neurotoxins in aircraft cabin air

Abstract

Although there is no mention of the problem in the Aeronautical Research Council's review covering the years 1949-1954 [1], in 1955 it could be stated [2] that "the contamination in our present airplanes is not toxic." That was, perhaps, a reasonable statement given the state of knowledge of the time. 2 See ref. 3 for a comprehensive history of bleed air and details of oil seal designs. Note that low pressure (LP) high and high pressure (HP) turbine shaft oil is common to both subsystems and thus LP turbine oil leaks will contain hot, possibly vaporized oil. Presumably the oil would not usually run at vaporization temperature and thus only entrained gas from the HP side would normally appear at the LP seals. See also http://www.exxonmobil.com/lubes/exxonmobil/emal/files/TTopic13_JetEng1.pdf 3 See, e.g., ref. 4. Oil formulations are discussed in detail in ref. 5.