World of interest in flight case

AN Australian court case in which a flight attendant is suing over health damage allegedly incurred on an Ansett aircraft is reportedly being watched closely by nervous airlines around the world.

The United Kingdom's Sunday Independent said the matter was progressing amid fears from experts that thou- sands of airline passengers were at risk because of pilots and crew blacking out after breathing bad air.

And the Sydney case involved a make of jet - the BAe 146 - was reported in an- other incident in which one female pilot said she felt "as drunk as a skunk" while piloting her plane into Brisbane, the paper said.

The Independent said airlines were "anxiously" following the case of Alyssia Chew, a former Ansett flight attendant who is suing the airline. She was one of an estimated 3000 pilots and cabin crew from Australia and the United States making claims for compensation for long- term damage to their nervous systems.

Centre of the claims is the practice of circulating air through an aircraft through its jet engines. Faulty seals are alleged to have allowed oil to leak into the airstream, causing dangerous fumes in the cabin.

The Courier Mail Monday December 28 1998 page 4.

last update 24 Oct 1999

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