README for "Smoke, Odors, and Fumes Events in US Airliners: 2016-2019 [supporting dataset]" dataset. Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) 2023-11-30 ---------------------------------------------------------------- LINKS TO DATASET ---------------------------------------------------------------- A. Dataset archive link: https://doi.org/10.21949/1528565 ---------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY OF DATASET ---------------------------------------------------------------- Cabin air quality onboard commercial aircraft has been a major concern for over 30 years. Advances in aircraft engine technology have resulted in increased engine temperatures and the use of synthetic lubricating oils that may contain organophosphate additives. Synthetic oils heated to high temperatures can contaminate aircraft air supplies due to mechanical failures or design deficiencies. The purpose of this paper is to describe the rate of occurrence of smoke, odor, and fume events related to pyrolyzed oil, hydraulic fluids, or fuel on US commercial airline flights. METHODS. Air supply contamination reports for US commercial airlines were collected from the Federal Aviation Administration Service Difficulty Report System (SDRS) database for a four-year period (January 2016 through December 2019). The event descriptions were then searched for keywords to include odor, fume, fog, aroma, smoke, odur, odour, oduor, haze, fire, scent, smell, and smoking. Events, such as baggage area fires and inspections, stating that the aircraft was powered off, were removed. The remaining events were manually reviewed to remove the cases that the automated keyword search included but were inapplicable. These filtered results were then manually reviewed to examine the description in the 'Event Details' column to ensure that the contaminant resulted from pyrolyzed oil, hydraulic fluid, or fuel. Furthermore, maintenance-related columns were reviewed for descriptions of follow-up maintenance activities such as repair or replacement that indicated pyrolyzed oil, hydraulic fluid, or fuel was a possible but not definite cause. This more restricted set of events is called the "contaminant events." RESULTS. Smoke, Odor, Fume (SOF) events were identified in 6,656 SDRS reports, of which 660 were identified as definite contaminant events (i.e., SOF events caused by possible pyrolyzed oil, hydraulic fluids, or fuel.) There were also another 487 reports for which follow-on maintenance activities such as repair or replacement of parts indicated that pyrolized oil, fluid, or fuel was a possible, but not definite cause. Therefore, the number of events can reasonably be bounded between 660 and 1147. The rate of events during this period can be expressed as the number of events per day (between 0.45 and 0.77), as the number of events per million departures (between 17.5 and 30.4), or as the number of events per 100,000 block (i.e., gate-to-gate) hours (between 0.72 and 1.26). (The number of block hours flown by aircraft certified to operate under Part 121 rules from 2016 to 2019 and the number of related departures were derived from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics Air Carrier Statistics Table). DISCUSSION. The results of this study are limited by conditions such as the reporting accuracy of SOF events and incomplete symptom data and should be interpreted as preliminary and indicative rather than conclusive. However, these results show that further monitoring and study of airplane cabin air quality are needed. ---------------------------------------------------------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS ---------------------------------------------------------------- A. General Information B. Sharing/Access & Policies Information C. Data and Related File Overview D. Methodological Information E. Data-Specific Information for: Smoke, Odors, and Fumes Events in US Airliners: 2016-2019 [supporting dataset] F. Update Log ---------------------------------------------------------------- A. GENERAL INFORMATION ---------------------------------------------------------------- 0. Title of Dataset: Smoke, Odors, and Fumes Events in US Airliners: 2016-2019 [supporting dataset] 1. Description of Dataset: Cabin air quality onboard commercial aircraft has been a major concern for over 30 years. Advances in aircraft engine technology have resulted in increased engine temperatures and the use of synthetic lubricating oils that may contain organophosphate additives. Synthetic oils heated to high temperatures can contaminate aircraft air supplies due to mechanical failures or design deficiencies. The purpose of this paper is to describe the rate of occurrence of smoke, odor, and fume events related to pyrolyzed oil, hydraulic fluids, or fuel on US commercial airline flights. METHODS. Air supply contamination reports for US commercial airlines were collected from the Federal Aviation Administration Service Difficulty Report System (SDRS) database for a four-year period (January 2016 through December 2019). The event descriptions were then searched for keywords to include odor, fume, fog, aroma, smoke, odur, odour, oduor, haze, fire, scent, smell, and smoking. Events, such as baggage area fires and inspections, stating that the aircraft was powered off, were removed. The remaining events were manually reviewed to remove the cases that the automated keyword search included but were inapplicable. These filtered results were then manually reviewed to examine the description in the 'Event Details' column to ensure that the contaminant resulted from pyrolyzed oil, hydraulic fluid, or fuel. Furthermore, maintenance-related columns were reviewed for descriptions of follow-up maintenance activities such as repair or replacement that indicated pyrolyzed oil, hydraulic fluid, or fuel was a possible but not definite cause. This more restricted set of events is called the "contaminant events." RESULTS. Smoke, Odor, Fume (SOF) events were identified in 6,656 SDRS reports, of which 660 were identified as definite contaminant events (i.e., SOF events caused by possible pyrolyzed oil, hydraulic fluids, or fuel.) There were also another 487 reports for which follow-on maintenance activities such as repair or replacement of parts indicated that pyrolized oil, fluid, or fuel was a possible, but not definite cause. Therefore, the number of events can reasonably be bounded between 660 and 1147. The rate of events during this period can be expressed as the number of events per day (between 0.45 and 0.77), as the number of events per million departures (between 17.5 and 30.4), or as the number of events per 100,000 block (i.e., gate-to-gate) hours (between 0.72 and 1.26). (The number of block hours flown by aircraft certified to operate under Part 121 rules from 2016 to 2019 and the number of related departures were derived from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics Air Carrier Statistics Table). DISCUSSION. The results of this study are limited by conditions such as the reporting accuracy of SOF events and incomplete symptom data and should be interpreted as preliminary and indicative rather than conclusive. However, these results show that further monitoring and study of airplane cabin air quality are needed. 2. Dataset archive link: https://doi.org/10.21949/1528565 3. Authorship Information: Principal Data Creator or Data Manager Contact Information Name: Greenhaw, Richard, (0000-0002-9863-7821) Institution: Civil Aerospace Medical Institute Address: Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center Bldg. 13 (CAMI), Room 135D 6500 South MacArthur Blvd Oklahoma City, OK 73169 Email: richard.greenhaw@faa.gov Data Distributor Contact Information Name: Greenhaw, Richard, (0000-0002-9863-7821) Institution: Civil Aerospace Medical Institute Address: Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center Bldg. 13 (CAMI), Room 135D 6500 South MacArthur Blvd Oklahoma City, OK 73169 Email: richard.greenhaw@faa.gov Organizational Contact Information Name: Greenhaw, Richard, (0000-0002-9863-7821) Institution: Civil Aerospace Medical Institute Address: Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center Bldg. 13 (CAMI), Room 135D 6500 South MacArthur Blvd Oklahoma City, OK 73169 Email: richard.greenhaw@faa.gov 4. Date of data collection and update interval: 2016-2019 5. Geographic location of data collection: United States ---------------------------------------------------------------- B. SHARING/ACCESS & POLICIES INFORMATION ---------------------------------------------------------------- 0. Recommended citation for the data: United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Aviation Administration. Office of Aviation. Civil Aerospace Medical Institute (2023). Smoke, Odors, and Fumes Events in US Airliners: 2016-2019 [supporting dataset]. https://doi.org/10.21949/1528565 1. Licenses/restrictions placed on the data: None 2. Was data derived from another source?: No 3. This document was created to meet the requirements enumerated in the U.S. Department of Transportation's 'Plan to Increase Public Access to the Results of Federally-Funded Scientific Research' Version 1.1 << https://doi.org/10.21949/1520559 >> and guidelines suggested by the DOT Public Access website << https://doi.org/10.21949/1503647 >>, in effect and current as of December 03, 2020. ---------------------------------------------------------------- C. DATA & RELATED FILE OVERVIEW ---------------------------------------------------------------- 1. File List for the 95476_DATASET_20231130_1405.zip collection A. Filename: final verified SOF results.xlsx Short description: Complete dataset with Data Dictionary B. Filename: Data_Dictionary.txt Short description: Text document with the data dictionary seperated from the Excel workbook. C. Filename: final verified SOF results.csv Short description: CSV version of the dataset. D. Filename: 95476_README_20231130.txt Short description: The document you are reading now. An informational document about the dataset. E. Filename: 95476.json Short description: This is the metadata file that contains important document information. This file is in DCAT US v1.1 schema. F. Filename: 95476_Smoke_Orders_and_Fumes_in_U.S._Airlines_Technical_Documentation.pdf Short description: The techinical documentation included with the dataset. Includes information such as author, performing organizations, sponsoring agency, abstract, and keywords. G. Filename: Smoke,_Odors_and_Fumes_in_U.S._Airliners-_2016-2019 DMP_20231130.pdf Short description: The data management plan for this project. It was created using DMPTool. It contains information on the data, standards employed, acess and reuse policies, archiving and preservation plans, and more. ---------------------------------------------------------------- D. METHODOLOGICAL INFORMATION ---------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Description of methods used for collection/generation of data: Air supply contamination reports for US commercial airlines were collected from the Federal Aviation Administration Service Difficulty Report System (SDRS) database for a four-year period (January 2016 through December 2019). The event descriptions were then searched for keywords to include odor, fume, fog, aroma, smoke, odur, odour, oduor, haze, fire, scent, smell, and smoking. Events, such as baggage area fires and inspections, stating that the aircraft was powered off, were removed. The remaining events were manually reviewed to remove the cases that the automated keyword search included but were inapplicable. These filtered results were then manually reviewed to examine the description in the 'Event Details' column to ensure that the contaminant resulted from pyrolyzed oil, hydraulic fluid, or fuel. Furthermore, maintenance-related columns were reviewed for descriptions of follow-up maintenance activities such as repair or replacement that indicated pyrolyzed oil, hydraulic fluid, or fuel was a possible but not definite cause. This more restricted set of events is called the "contaminant events." 2. Instrument- or software-specific information needed to interpret the data: Spreadsheet software such as Excel, or any program that can open and read CSV files. ---------------------------------------------------------------- E. DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION ---------------------------------------------------------------- 1. OC 17.6 Dataset data table A. Number of variables (columns): 17 B. Number of cases/rows: 6651 C. Each row represents: Internal ID number D. Data Dictionary/Variable List: Included in seperate text file and original Excel workbook. E. Missing data codes: S S = Appropriate Skip R = Refused D = Don't Know ---------------------------------------------------------------- F. UPDATE LOG ---------------------------------------------------------------- This 95476_README_20231130.txt file was originally created on 2023-11-30 by Peyton Tvrdy https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9720-4725 Data Management and Data Curation Fellow, peyton.tvrdy.ctr@dot.gov 2023-11-30: Original file created