EMB-145 flight crew reported an initial air leak from main cabin door during climb and subsequent reports of fumes in the cabin resulting in physiological effects on the crew.
Synopsis
EMB-145 flight crew reported an initial air leak from main cabin door during climb and subsequent reports of fumes in the cabin resulting in physiological effects on the crew.
Narrative
Preflight; taxi and initial climb were normal. Previous flight crew did not note any abnormality.Going through 17000'; FA (Flight Attendant) called and stated she heard a leak around the main cabin door. We continued to climb; and I briefed her that we would continue the climb to see if it sealed up and I would call her back. Once we reached 23000'; I called the FA back; and she stated the leak was louder so we asked for an immediate descent back to 17000'; which was where the FA stated the noise approximately started. The flight continued mostly normally; with us monitoring the pressurization panel and fuel burn. I notified Dispatch and they sent us fuel numbers. There were small errors made along the way but nothing alarming. After a normal landing and taxi; we opened the flight deck door and deplaned. I wrote up the main cabin door; the FO (First Officer) called Tower for biohazard cleanup due to a child throwing up on the aircraft. We then exited the aircraft. FA stated she had a really bad headache; which the FO had also noticed when we turned final. I also stated I had one; and asked what other symptoms everyone had. We all had a headache; slight dizziness; brain fog; cold; clammy and shaky hands; and my hands and feet were tingling. I called the Chief Pilot at this point to bring in someone else; and he advised us we should probably go get checked out. Hospital diagnosed all 3 crew members with fume exposure to an unknown source. No smells; smoke fire or anything outside of normal operations were noted by any crew members or passengers. We did not notice anything until we started getting fresh air from the main cabin door being opened.All parts of flight appeared normal through preflight; taxi; and initial departure. Previous crew noted no issues with the aircraft in passing. FA called and said we had a whistle noise/had an air leak from the main cabin door as we were climbing through 17000'. I told the FA that we would continue climbing and I will call back at cruise altitude of 23000' to see if it had sealed up. We continued to climb to see if the noise went away or got worse. I talked with the FO about the situation; my concerns and asked for his concerns including long range cruise numbers; fuel calculations; concerns with hypoxia; and anything we might have missed. During this time we were both monitoring the EICAS and all available indications; and pressurization was indicating normal. I called the FA back and she said there was still a whistle; so we descended down from 23000' to 17000'. Advised ATC what was going on but everything seemed normal as far as the leak; and we told them we did not need priority and that we were not an emergency aircraft. We monitored the pressurization panel which was still indicating completely normal; I believe somewhere around 2300' but I don't remember exactly. Flight was smooth; no bumps at all. While coming towards final; the FO stated he had a bit of a headache; and I said I did as well. I made a comment on final that with 2800lbs; we would be an emergency if we went around which is absolutely not true. Our min fuel was under 2100lbs; and I thought about it for longer than usual and struggled with simple math. Continued the RNAV XXR approach; landed fine; taxi to gate and immediately upon opening the flight deck door; the FA states that someone pooped in the back; which was kinda wild but we then discovered after most of the deplaning was complete it was puke. I was very surprised because it was fairly smooth the whole flight. Thinking back on this moment; I also noticed more than average number of passengers hit their head while leaving the airplane. I normally immediately write up any maintenence issues; but this flight I sat around for about 5-10 minutes and lollygagged and then realized I needed to write the main cabin door up for an air leak. While on the phone with Maintenence; I asked the FO to call Tower/Operations to send a crew down to clean up biohazard from the puke in the back; which he did using the hand mic and speaker. Deplaning was complete; we had an aircraft swap for our next flight so we exited the aircraft after shutting it down; and as we walked down the jet bridge the FA stated that she had a bad headache and this is really the whole turning point. We started chatting and we realized we all have the same symptoms. Headache; upset stomach; slight dizziness; brain fog; cold and clammy hands; my hands and feet were tingling. At this point; I decided there's too many factors and we needed to bring in someone else to discuss the situation. We decided to go inside the terminal and call a Chief Pilot. As we walked away; I honestly didn't even think about writing up the airplane but looking back the gate agent would not have let us down due to ZZZ having a strict policy that flight crew cannot exit the terminal to go to the aircraft under any circumstances. Later in the hospital; I truly began to noticed lots of brain fog and my heart is randomly beating fast and then back to normal. We also realized we didn't smell ANYTHING the entire time the door was closed-engine start; pack smell; nothing. I can't exactly say when anything started or began as far as the fume inhalation; just looking back on it and noticing signs.Below is my best estimate at a timeline of events after landing-Opened door at XA:39Wrote up airplane for the pressurization leak.Called Chief Pilot at XA:57 to ask for advice and see what we should do. He advised us that the decision is ours; either he can pull us and we go to the hospital or we continue. He said he would be home in 5 minutes and we can decide then.Called Person A and advised her of the situation and she advised me to not touch an airplane and go to the hospital.Called my dad and let him know and asked for advice; and he also advised me to go to the hospital. Chief pilot called back and we told him we will go to the hospital to get checked out. Chief pilot sent paperwork and I booked a taxi.Got in ride share at XB:42Arrived at hospital at XB:57Checked in by triage around XC:15Had blood drawn and EKG done around XD:15Brought back to see doctor at XD:45Finally was put on oxygen at XR:30-XR:45At XS:04; I texted Chief Pilot asking if the airplane was still in service; and I stated that the preliminary blood work shows some sort of carbon monoxide poisoning in all of us. At XT:08; Chief Pilot responded and said he will pass the info on to Maintenence.Still here at XI:00Talked to doc at XI:45 and taken off oxygen. They are currently labeling it as fume exposure" and they do not have an exact idea what it was. They are calling another hospital and asking what tests can be done; otherwise workers comp will do the blood tests so it gets sent to the right people. My next question was what is the half life of stuff like this and as expected she wasn't entirely sure.Discharged at XK:34Arrived at hotel at XL:08Woke up around XQ:30 and found out the airplane was never grounded aside from fixing the main cabin door seal that I wrote up; and was told it wasn't grounded because I didn't write it up. I was unable to write it up because we didn't realize what condition we were in; as well as I had sent a text message to my chief pilot requesting the information to be passed along to ground the airplane. This was made via text message. I also found out that the passenger that threw up was a child/infant. The next crew to take the airplane ended up in the hospital with fume exposure from the time they were in the aircraft getting it ready for a revenue flight.FO contacted his AME; and they reviewed his blood work. The AME notified him that he had approximately 20-30 minutes of useful conciseness left. I am still waiting to hear back from my AME.Cause: Something in pack 1 burning up.Suggestion: More clarity on maintenance issues; as I still don't know what burnt up in Pack 1 or what we/the entire airplane was exposed to."
Second reporter narrative
FA (Flight Attendant) called and said we had a whistle noise/had an air leak from the main cabin door as we were climbing through 17000'. The Captain told the FA that we would continue climbing and we will call back at cruise altitude of 23000' to see if it had sealed up. We continued to climb to see if the noise went away or got worse. The Captain talked with me the FO about the situation; his concerns and asked for my concerns including long range cruise numbers; fuel calculations; concerns with hypoxia; and anything we might have missed. During this time we were both monitoring the EICAS and all available indications; and pressurization was indicating normal. We called the FA back and she said there was still a whistle; so we descended down from 23000' to 17000'. Advised ATC what was going on but everything seemed normal as far as the leak; and we told them we did not need priority and that we were not an emergency aircraft. We monitored the pressurization panel which was still indicating completely normal; I believe somewhere around 2300' but I don't remember exactly. Flight was smooth; no bumps at all. While coming towards final; I stated I had a bit of a headache; and the Captain said he did as well. He made a comment on final that with 2800lbs; we would be an emergency if we went around which is absolutely not true. Our min fuel was under 2100lbs; and he thought about it for longer than usual and struggled with simple math. Continued the RNAV XXR approach; landed fine; taxi to gate and immediately upon opening the flight deck door; the FA states that someone pooped in the back; which was kinda wild but we then discovered after most of the deplaning was complete it was puke. We were very surprised because it was fairly smooth the whole flight. Thinking back on this moment; we also noticed more than average number of passengers hit their head while leaving the airplane. While on the phone with Maintenance; the Captain asked the me to call Tower/Operations to send a crew down to clean up biohazard from the puke in the back; which I did using the hand mic and speaker. Deplaning was complete; we had an aircraft swap for our next flight so we exited the aircraft after shutting it down; and as we walked down the jet bridge the FA stated that she had a bad headache and this is really the whole turning point. We started chatting and we realized we all have the same symptoms. Headache; upset stomach; slight dizziness; brain fog; cold and clammy hands; my hands and feet were tingling. At this point; we decided there's too many factors and we needed to bring in someone else to discuss the situation. We decided to go inside the terminal and call a Chief Pilot. Later in the hospital; we truly began to noticed lots of brain fog and my heart is randomly beating fast and then back to normal. We also realized we didn't smell ANYTHING the entire time the door was closed-engine start; pack smell; nothing. I can't exactly say when anything started or began as far as the fume inhalation; just looking back on it and noticing signs.Below is our best estimate at a timeline of events-Opened door at XA:39Wrote up airplane for the pressurization leak.Captain called Chief Pilot at XA:57 to ask for advice and see what we should do. He advised us that the decision is ours; either he can pull us and we go to the hospital or we continue. He said he would be home in 5 minutes and we can decide then.Captain called Person A and advised her of the situation and she advised me to not touch an airplane and go to the hospital. Chief Pilot called back and we told him we will go to the hospital to get checked out. Chief Pilot sent paperwork and I booked a ride share.Got in ride share at XB:42Arrived at hospital at XB:57Checked in by triage around XC:15Had blood drawn and EKG done around XD:15Brought back to see doctor at XD:45Finally was put on oxygen at XR:30-XR:45At XS:04; Captain texted Chief Pilot asking if the airplane was still inservice; and I stated that the preliminary blood work shows some sort of carbon monoxide poisoning in all of us. At XT:08; Chief Pilot responded and said he will pass the info on to Maintenance.Around XJ:00. They are currently labeling it as fume exposure" and they do not have an exact idea what it was. They are calling another hospital and asking what tests can be done; otherwise workers comp will do the blood tests so it gets sent to the right people.Discharged at XK:34Arrived at hotel at XL:08After receiving approval from the Chief Pilot; I was about to Nonrev home. As we were taxing out; I noticed they were loading bags onto the incident aircraft. I messaged the First Officer from that crew and warned him of what we experienced the night before so that way they were aware of the symptoms we experienced in case they were experiencing them. The First Officer from that crew responded and said that his Captain already had a headache; and they were going to refuse the aircraft due to a strong odor. Shortly after that the entire crew was hospitalized for a fume exposure. Later that evening; I spoke with my aviation medical examiner who said that plane should definitely have been taken out of service following the event. He mentioned it was good. We got on the ground when we did because a half an hour later could've told a totally different story."
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.