FUME EVENT "Aviation's Biggest Lie" Porter Lafayette (Sample Chapter)

Disaster over the Atlantic

I had spent over thirty-two years working for one of America’s original legacy carriers. I had begun to think about leaving the industry but a new opportunity to fly transatlantic routes to Europe came along and I decided to stay. All was going well until that fateful day. It was mid December and we had a flight full of holiday travelers en route from the US going to Spain. I remember the day very clearly. I was in the aft galley when I heard the captains PA announcement. Myself and my co-worker were counting meals while preparing for our long transatlantic flight. The captain came across the PA and said: “Ladies and gentlemen there seems to be a bleed air problem with our engine on the aircraft left, maintenance will be coming on board and I will be giving you an update shortly”.

I remember looking at my co-worker and stating: “That doesn’t sound very good. I just bet we are going to need an engine change which will take several hours or even cancel.” We kept peering at the cockpit door and then we saw a member of the airline management go inside the cockpit and close the door. After he came out and left, this was followed by an announcement by the captain: “Ladies and gentlemen we are now ready to button up and will be departing in approximately 20 minutes.”  I was in complete shock. My co-worker was looking at me equally puzzled since we both thought it was a serious problem. Then out of nowhere we were just going with no repairs not even twenty minutes later. The chief pilot was flying the plane so I trusted him and felt safe with his judgement. Little did I know that my life was about to make a drastic turn and we would never be the same again. Once the galley was secured I went and strapped into my crew seat that was on the aircraft left at number three door directly under the engine in question.

The wide body Airbus A330 roared down the runway and was airborne. We had maybe been up no more than ten minutes approaching 10,000 feet when the inflight horror show began. I immediately became overwhelmed with this horrific rancid odor that was pouring out from the vent directly above my head as the main entry point. It was a misty haze that smelled like  a wet dog, dirty socks and or something putrid. I suddenly felt ill, dizzy and disorientated. Yet, I only had a few seconds to take in my own symptoms before my entire cabin went into panic. Multiple passengers simultaneously began violent projectile vomiting and regurgitations, children were falling unconscious having seizures, and elderly people began to fall over with respiratory distress, not breathing and unresponsive. The entire back cabin became an immediate war zone. I couldn’t get one passenger settled before I had multiple others waving me down for desperate medical attention. We contacted the captain and asked if we should turn back. He stated that management advised us to continue the flight as scheduled. After treating many of the  passengers I then looked at my co-worker and noticed that his eyes were glazed, he kept holding his head and he seemed very ill.

There were three passengers who still haunt me to this day. I desperately wanted to contact them but the airline refused to allow it. One was a Spanish couples new born infant. I placed a bassinet onto the wall and it was  directly facing the vent that was above my seat where the heaviest fumes were leaking into the cabin. The child was just inches away directly to the left of my crew seat. The tiny baby cried and shrieked in pain all the way to Spain. He never ever stopped crying. Later, after I learned what we had been exposed to, only then did I connect the dots. The tender infants tender new body tissues were most likely inflamed from the neurotoxins that were raining down on him from the cabin. I always wondered about that little baby and if he ended up autistic, brain damaged, retarded or handicapped from that flight. The young couple was so beautiful as was their child. I often think about that child and that couple. It makes me wonder if they are struggling with health issues and medical bills today with their child being sick.

http://www.lulu.com/shop/http://www.lulu.com/shop/porter-lafayette/...