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Prevent and detect carbon monoxide in aircraft

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Prevent and detect carbon monoxide in aircraft

IFA Comment: IFA agrees that aircraft operators of piston-engine aircraft should carry out inspections and check any repair of exhaust systems.    Carbon Monoxide (CO) is highly poisonous and it’s a colourless, odourless and tasteless gas. It’s known as the “silent killer”.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau is advising owners, operators, pilots and maintainers of piston-engine aircraft to take measures to detect the presence of, and prevent the entry of, carbon monoxide in aircraft cabins.

The national transport safety investigator has issued two Safety Advisory Notices and released an update to its on-going investigation into the collision with water of a DHC-2 Beaver floatplane at Jerusalem Bay, on the Hawkesbury River north of Sydney, on 31 December 2017, in which the pilot and five passengers lost their lives.

“During the draft review process for the investigation’s final report, the aviation medical specialist engaged by the ATSB recommended that carbon monoxide toxicology testing be undertaken on blood samples of the aircraft occupants,” said ATSB Chief Commissioner Greg Hood.

The results of that testing, provided to the ATSB in March 2020, indicated that the pilot and two of the passengers, whose post-mortem examinations established received fatal injuries sustained as a result of the impact sequence, had elevated levels of carbon monoxide.

Link to the full ATSB Report and Safety Advisory Notices.

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