Reporting of Fume Events is important!
For decades, many airline companies have strongly discouraged the proper reporting of Fume Events. As a result, for the main part of all the Fume Events that have taken place, no proper reports are available. This is made clear in the shocking result of an investigation by Aviation Herald into a serious Fume Event in 2018. This fact is until today being exploited by the airline industry to downplay the problem of contaminated air on board of airplanes.
Dr. Susan Michaelis worked as an airline pilot in Australia for years. When forced to end her career as a result of Aerotoxic Syndrome, she studied Medicine and obtained her Phd and a Master degree in Air Safety. Susan is a qualified Aircraft Accident Investigator, and nowadays she is the Head of Research of Global Cabin Air Quality Executive GCAQE. In this short video she emphasises once again how important it is to make an official report of EVERY fume event you might encounter.
Reporting options
In case you encountered a Fume Event, there are several possibilities to report this event to the proper authorities.
1) If you’re on board as an active crew member: if possible, always file an ASR with your own company. You’ll probably need the Captain and/or Purser to also sign this. Should they refuse to do so for whatever reason, file your ASR as yet, and make a note on it that they refused to cooperate (preferably with the reasons thereof). You should also file a copy with the authorities, especially when Captain/Purser refuse to sign your report. For the Netherlands, the address to file your report is: https://tijdelijk.ilent.nl/contact/melden/index.aspx The form is in Dutch, but filing your report in English is obviously not a problem. Choose the category: “Luchtvaart”, and paste your report under “Toelichting”. You can also report by telephone: +31 88 489 0000. This link is also available for passengers!
2) In case you’re commuting as a crew on a foreign airline, or you’re traveling as a passenger, you can still report a Fume Event by filling in this online form on the website of the Global Cabin Air Quality Executive (GCAQE), the international umbrella organisation against contaminated cabin air. GCAQE will also forward the report to the relevant authorities, either in the country of occurrence or at the airline company’s home base. Visit the website of the GCAQE for more information about this organisation.