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Tangri
29th January 2016, 04:38
• The American Airlines flight turned around when close to Keflavik, Iceland.
• Flight attendant said to have fainted and five other cabin crew members ill.
• Two passengers onboard Boeing 777-300 also began feeling unwell mid-air.
• Plane bound for Los Angeles declared emergency and returned to London.
• Mystery surrounds why passengers' luggage was confiscated for "checks".
• Aviation expert said plane's air quality could be reason why people got sick.

What caused a flight attendant to collapse and seven others to take ill during a mid-air drama above the Atlantic?

Panicked passengers told of the scary moment a plea went out for any doctors onboard before the captain of the American Airlines flight declared a "medical emergency" and returned to London.

Emergency vehicles were scrambled and, once on the ground, the aborted Los Angeles-bound flight was escorted to the Heathrow terminal before passengers were told to remain in their seats.

It has since emerged that those onboard were not allowed to disembark, nor paramedics allowed on to treat those unwell, until tests had been carried out for any 'elevated levels of substances' in the cabin air - analysis that yielded no answers.

All luggage was then confiscated for 'checks' by American Airlines and Heathrow authorities, but passengers were kept in the dark as to the motive for doing so.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11581233

http://www.theweek.co.uk/69025/american-airlines-flight-aa109-turns-back-over-mystery-illness

BongoBob
29th January 2016, 08:05
Just a few things to point out about aviation in general.

Over-reaction by the many, many hands who support any given flight at any given time, to anything out of the norm, is a given. I handled ground coordination operations for a handful of international airlines over the years... and it never ceased to amaze me the responses that would happen to the most mundane things.. Once had a hazmat team called out, and a flight postponed for 4 hours, because the station mechanic had found a mysterious blue goo smeared on the floor of the cargo hold... which turned out to be ball-pen ink from a damaged shipment.

Granted, 6 people falling ill in such a short period is most assuredly a concern for the crew, especially when the crew is among them. I wonder why they flew all the way back to England if they could easily make for an emergency landing at Keflavik.. The article notes that nobody was taken to the hospital, which would, in my opinion, imply that these "ill" effects were short lived, and most possibly a result of hypoxia, brought on by a loss of cabin pressure (lack of oxygen, who do you think would be worn out first? the strapped down passengers, or the flight attendants whom are shuffling back and forth through the cabin)... Unfortunately, events like this have happened before (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helios_Airways_Flight_522) (and in the same model aircraft), where the crew was unable to realize they had lost pressure, and suffered the intoxicating effects of oxygen loss.

Which brings up the previous point- Why not follow standard emergency procedure and get down to lower altitude as quickly and safely as possible, which in this case would bring them right next to Keflavik?

- As to the bit about the secrecy regarding the baggage, that also follows standard "over-reaction" response that aviation staff seem to fall prey to... Again reminiscing, I don't know how many strange, off-the-wall events happened (technical or mechanical issues mostly that took a while to come to a solution) to which we gave the passengers a blanket statement such as "Please be patient, as we have a delay due to technical issues".. we're not going to give just any passenger details on what part broke.. because once it's fixed, all these passengers get into that exact same metal tube and shoot across the sky for hours on end, with even more discomfort because, without going completely into detail of the situation, a passenger just may hear "Repaired" and "Part of the wing", and then the imagination just goes bonkers..

Lifebringer
29th January 2016, 09:46
I remember saying last year to beware of those who may use the plot in the series the Event. They sent some of their own susicide pepoe who were immune to exposure to carry the virus on plane and release the cap of the viles.

Tangri
29th January 2016, 21:51
My first impression was the cabin pressure drop but Pilots must be well educated on this emergency situation which would lead to them other practice, other than fly back 2 hours more for origin of the departure.