mysterious fainting on new york to london flight?

Sat Oct 31, 2009 3:54 pm » by **bugmenot**

Alert as people faint on NY flight :headscratch:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/ne ... light.html

Mystery ... passengers fainted on Brit bound flight

EMERGENCY services were called to meet a plane landing at London Heathrow airport today after several passengers mysteriously fainted during the flight.

Around six people blacked out during the flight from Newark, USA, and London Ambulance Service was asked to meet the flight when it landed at Terminal Five early this morning.

Medical workers boarded the plane in protective suitsd because of the risk of a potential hazmat (hazardous materials) incident.

An ambulance service spokeswoman said its hazardous area response team was sent to meet the flight, along with six ambulance crews.

A British Airways spokeswoman said: "A handful of passengers on the aircraft fainted during the flight.

"As a precaution, medical services met the aircraft."

Six people were taken ill during the flight, out of 216 on board.

Their condition was initially assessed by airline staff and the flight, BA184, landed as planned at Heathrow Terminal Five.

The spokeswoman said the passengers had now been assessed and had been allowed to continue their journeys.

A Heathrow spokeswoman confirmed that medical services had been called to check the condition of passengers who had fainted on the flight.

"Passengers have been assessed and have disembarked," she said.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said the force had been alerted to the incident and had attended the airport, but it was not being treated as suspicious.

An ambulance service spokeswoman said: "We were called just before 6.10am this morning to Terminal Five to reports of multiple patients taken unwell on a plane.

"We had six ambulance crews, three of our paramedics on bicycles who went down there and two duty managers as well as our hazardous area response team (Hart).

"Our staff boarded just after 9.15am once the scene had been checked by London Fire Brigade.

"We have assessed six patients at the scene. None needed to be taken to hospital."

She said ambulance staff finished at the scene at 10.10am.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/ne ... light.html :headscratch:

Mon Nov 02, 2009 1:10 am » by **bugmenot**

Pictured: Stunned BA passengers scanned by firemen in decontamination suits after six customers mysteriously faint mid-flight http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... itain.html

Six people collapsed on a transatlantic flight yesterday - sparking a decontamination operation when the British Airways plane landed at Heathrow.

Firefighters in special suits and breathing apparatus boarded the Boeing 777 at a remote stand at Terminal 5 amid fears of fumes or a mystery bug.

The area was sealed off and officials scanned the plane with a handheld device, while a paddling pool was placed at the end of an escape chute - believed to be part of a decontamination system.

Checks: A firefighting in a decontamination suit checks a British Airways plane at Heathrow after six passengers fainted mid-flight

Health fears: Emergency teams rushed on board when the plane from Newark in the U.S. arrived in Britain in case of a chemical leak

Six ambulances stood by as paramedics boarded the plane to treat stricken passengers, who complained of feeling 'light-headed and faint'.

All 216 passengers were kept on board the jet from Newark until the sick were well enough to leave.

It is thought the affected passengers, who were sitting in different areas of economy class, may have had a stomach bug.

Passenger Jill Onen, 47, from Epsom, Surrey, said: 'By the time we got off elderly people who hadn't fainted were pretty close to it.'

Taking no chances: Emergency vehicles lined up next to the plane

Alert: Passengers snapped this picture of firemen checking for any hazards

BA said: 'All the passengers who collapsed were assessed and able to continue with their journeys.'

The plane was investigated and checked by emergency crews but was deemed safe and was put back into use on the same day, British Airways said.

A spokeswoman for London Fire Brigade said the Boeing 777 aircraft, which had 14 crew on board, was fit to fly.

'The cabin area and flight deck were declared safe using equipment and by crews wearing gas-type suits,' she said.

A BA spokeswoman was not able to say whether the aircraft underwent more rigorous cleaning procedures as a result of the fainting spells.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... itain.html

Mon Nov 02, 2009 1:27 am » by **Dirttyrabbit**

Mon Nov 02, 2009 2:04 am » by **Thewindycity**

why are all the passengers laughing in the background? Maybe someone just had a bad case of the hershey squirts or something.

Mon Nov 02, 2009 3:37 am » by **domdabears**

Jesus... Gotta love that site when your about to fly. I never been on an airplane and I really could care or less if I ever do.

Mon Nov 02, 2009 4:00 am » by **bugmenot**

domdabears wrote:Jesus... Gotta love that site when your about to fly. I never been on an airplane and I really could care or less if I ever do.

me neither to much of a control freak lol. like control of my own destiny if i die it will be by my hands

Tue Nov 10, 2009 1:44 pm » by **Thewindycity**

hubby says "if god wanted me to fly, he would have given me wings". Personally, I can't imagine life without flight.

Tue Nov 10, 2009 2:51 pm » by **Lynziswez**

I think there are many possible reasons for this "strange" phenomena.

I have two possible theories & neither have anything to do with mysterious ways.

I have travelled by plane many many times, both long haul & short haul.

My personal experience while flying has generally been a bad experience since the No Smoking policy was implented. This may sound a bit strange at first but, it is all relative to the air conditioning & pesticides. Every year when I arrive back from abroad, I am seriously ill for many weeks. The first time I had a bad experience, my first sympton was evident immediately, I acquired an extremely itchy & stinging scalp after about 20 mins into boarding the plane. The "itch" became so unbearable & painful that it was the focus for me throughout the flight & then I was ill for a futher 10 days with aches & pains, nausea, headaches, feeling of low energy & "out of sorts". It was after this experience that I first learned about pest control on flights. Maybe quite niavely I had not considered prior to this that chemical sprays were sprayed after each flight into the cabins to kill any possible insects that had been brought on board on peoples clothes, bags ect to avoid cross contamination into different countries as well as possible airbourne bugs.
I might be wrong as I don't have any technical expertise nor knowledge on this stuff & can only speak of my own experiences. Now whether this stuff is manually sprayed or was previousily dispersed through the air conditioning (as I believe it is usually done in between change over of passengers) as I have only actually witnessed it being done once & that was manually sprayed by the flight attendants throughout the plane while all passengers were on board due to a short turnaround dead line. As we are now aware that the chemicals in crop spray are potential cancer inducers the I believe this stuff they are spraying possibly falls into the same catagory. Now with the risk of Swine flu contamination I am more than sure that the "regular" spray on flights will have been "adjusted " to "deal" with this. Maybe any new chemical addative is having a direct & speedy result on travellers healths & causing causing reactions immediately.

Now since the no smoking ban on flights I believe that the air conditioning no longer sucks in used air & reapplies fresh air, but instead circulates the existing air as I have been told that they no longer feel there is the need for the expense of full air conditioning as there is no smoke to clear. If this is the case, then they are constantly recycling the air throughout the plane which is full of everyone's germs & illnesses & possibly infecting every passenger, & will also circulate the pesticide time & time again throughout the whole of the flight which would explain why I am so ill after every time I travel.

Tue Nov 10, 2009 3:19 pm » by **Wompasdub**

lol I love how in that first photo all the passengers seem to think it's funny and ridiculous the guy is in a hazmat

Sat Oct 02, 2010 8:55 am » by **Callumhamilton**

lynziswez wrote:I think there are many possible reasons for this "strange" phenomena.

I have two possible theories & neither have anything to do with mysterious ways.

I have travelled by plane many many times, both long haul & short haul.

My personal experience while flying has generally been a bad experience since the No Smoking policy was implented. This may sound a bit strange at first but, it is all relative to the air conditioning & pesticides. Every year when I arrive back from abroad, I am seriously ill for many weeks. The first time I had a bad experience, my first sympton was evident immediately, I acquired an extremely itchy & stinging scalp after about 20 mins into boarding the plane. The "itch" became so unbearable & painful that it was the focus for me throughout the flight & then I was ill for a futher 10 days with aches & pains, nausea, headaches, feeling of low energy & "out of sorts". It was after this experience that I first learned about pest control on flights. Maybe quite niavely I had not considered prior to this that chemical sprays were sprayed after each flight into the cabins to kill any possible insects that had been brought on board on peoples clothes, bags ect to avoid cross contamination into different countries as well as possible airbourne bugs.
I might be wrong as I don't have any technical expertise nor knowledge on this stuff & can only speak of my own experiences. Now whether this stuff is manually sprayed or was previousily dispersed through the air conditioning (as I believe it is usually done in between change over of passengers) as I have only actually witnessed it being done once & that was manually sprayed by the flight attendants throughout the plane while all passengers were on board due to a short turnaround dead line. As we are now aware that the chemicals in crop spray are potential cancer inducers the I believe this stuff they are spraying possibly falls into the same catagory. Now with the risk of Swine flu contamination I am more than sure that the "regular" spray on flights will have been "adjusted " to "deal" with this. Maybe any new chemical addative is having a direct & speedy result on travellers healths & causing causing reactions immediately.

Now since the no smoking ban on flights I believe that the air conditioning no longer sucks in used air & reapplies fresh air, but instead circulates the existing air as I have been told that they no longer feel there is the need for the expense of full air conditioning as there is no smoke to clear. If this is the case, then they are constantly recycling the air throughout the plane which is full of everyone's germs & illnesses & possibly infecting every passenger, & will also circulate the pesticide time & time again throughout the whole of the flight which would explain why I am so ill after every time I travel.

I also suggested air conditioning stations, or indeed just extracting heat. Anyone working in that field would know how to draw cool air in, and suck hot air out - simply because of the way in which the air moves (and warm air rising).

http://www.crystalsigma.com :roll: