Why do Aerlingus not turn on the fresh air in their cabins anymore?
They just circulate the warm air onboard and any viruses that are in there too!!
But the air coming from the 3 vents over the seats was warm. People were having trouble breathing with the heat and everyone was sweating.
The steward said he would ask if he could adjust the temp, but it remained the same for the duration?
Maybe it was just a fault with this particular plane?!?!
September 1st, 2010 at 8:07 am
seriously, what?! If I understand correctly, cabin air is tapped off the compressor stage of the engines and filtered. This has been the status quo for decades and will continue to be for the foreseeable future, for Aerlingus and most (if not all) other airlines.
[edit] Ah, thanks for clearing that up, Grumpy.
September 1st, 2010 at 8:51 am
This myth started when manufacturers started recirculating only a small portion of the cabin air. The majority of the air used to pressurize the cabin goes out the outflow valve and is replaced by bleed air. That which is recirculated ends up going though some pretty heavy duty filters before it ends up in the cabin again.
The viruses that you are getting are from those sitting around you and not from someone 8 rows away via the recirc system. There’s no other way for the air conditioning/pressurization system to work. That air that you’ll be getting is as fresh as it’s gonna get. There’s nothing more that the flight crew can do to get it any fresher.
September 1st, 2010 at 8:54 am
The pilots may have simply set the cabin temperatures wrong, or there may have been something wrong with the air conditioning (which would not necessarily prevent the flight from taking off).
September 1st, 2010 at 9:09 am
The warm air is a result of the cabin temperature setting on the pressure controller. It is not because the air is being constantly re-circulated.
September 1st, 2010 at 9:55 am
Probably a fault with that particular aircraft. On an airliner, the pressurized air from the engines is run through something called an air conditioner pack. This consists of a series of turbines and compressors. The air first comes out of the engine at high temperature, and high pressure. It is run through a turbine that drives the rest of the pack system, and after it leaves this turbine, the air has lost both pressure and temperature. Then it is run through a heat exchanger to cool it further. It still has some pressure left at this point, but the temp is around room temperature. It is then allowed to expand, and at this point it gets very cold. This is the air that goes into the cabin of the aircraft. Typically, at this point the pack can begin to generate ice, which makes a lot of noise and scares people. So they add just a little hot bleed air to keep it above freezing. After it leaves the pack, they add more bleed air to it to warm it back up so the passengers won’t freeze. The temperature can be adjusted depending on how much hot bleed air is mixed in. But if the heat valve fails, it may be stuck wide open, thus providing only warm air to the cabin. You mention the air from the gaspers was warm. This is normally the coolest air available, so again, I think the aircraft must have had a problem. This type of thing is discomforting to passengers, but since it doesn’t affect the operation of the aircraft, or the pressurization system, the airline can live with it and let you sweat. If they get enough complaints, or the aircraft gets an overnight stop at a maintenance base, they’ll probably change the valve.