Written question asked by Lord Tyler (Liberal Democrat) on Tuesday, 12 October 2004, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 18 October 2004. It was answered by Charlotte Atkins (Labour) on Monday, 18 October 2004 on behalf of the Department for Transport.

Dept for Transport

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he has taken to investigate the differences between Civil Aviation Authority mandatory occurrence reports and British Airline Pilots Association survey results concerning contaminated cabin air quality incidents in UK aircraft.

Answer: Mr. Tyler: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps he has taken to investigate the differences between Civil Aviation Authority mandatory occurrence reports and British Airline Pilots Association survey results concerning contaminated cabin air quality incidents in UK aircraft. [191638] Charlotte Atkins: The Civil Aviation Authority compared the British Airline Pilots Association survey results with its mandatory occurrence reports. Much of the survey data related to low level events, often with inconclusive connections to contaminated air. Inclusion of the survey data in the Authority's database would not have advanced or improved the formal intervention action taken to mitigate the threat to safety posed by impairment of pilot performance through exposure to contaminated air. BALPA's data aligns with the CAA's assessment that there is a downward trend in the number of air contamination events now being reported.

Secondary information