A B737-800 Crew detected a strong dirty socks smell at 5;000' on the approach; so they donned oxygen masks; turned the RECIRC Fans OFF and proceeded to land ASAP. The First Officer felt ill.
Synopsis
A B737-800 Crew detected a strong dirty socks smell at 5;000' on the approach; so they donned oxygen masks; turned the RECIRC Fans OFF and proceeded to land ASAP. The First Officer felt ill.
Narrative
While turning base to land there was a very strong 'dirty sock' odor detected as we descended through approximately 5;000 MSL. The odor seemed to start shortly after I heard the forward outflow valve open on the aircraft pressurization system. I immediately donned my O2 mask and kept it on until after the engines were shutdown and we were on the gate. I was monitoring the service interphone and I heard the flight attendants discussing the dirty sock odor as well. My First Officer placed both recirculation fan switches to the 'OFF' position and left them there for the remainder of the flight. Since we had the airport in sight and were in the process of being cleared for an approach I made the decision not to consult the QRC/QRH procedure for 'Smoke; Fire; or Fumes in Passenger Cabin; Flight Deck or main Deck Cargo Compartment' since I felt the most important task was to get the passengers and crew off the jet as soon as possible in order to mitigate any possible ill effects that could result from the dirty sock odor. To accomplish this task I felt it was necessary to land as soon as possible and I felt that by referencing the QRC/QRH I would be taking the first officer out of the loop in a critical phase of flight when our most important priority was to land the jet and deplane as soon as possible. Also; since there was only an odor and no visible fumes detected; no thought was given to the possibility of ordering a passenger evacuation due to concerns of possible injuries from the evacuation being much worse than simply leaving everyone on the plane for just a few extra minutes and deplaning via the jetway. The odor seemed to start shortly after I heard the forward outflow valve open on the aircraft pressurization system.
Second reporter narrative
On descent passing through approximately 6000'; a strong odor filled the flight deck and remained until engine shutdown at the gate approximately 15 minutes later. The smell was a musty; old (dirty sock) like smell; and at one point almost like melting crayons. With less than 5 minutes to touchdown from the time the odor was noticed; the Captain and I donned our oxygen masks for the remainder of the flight. After landing on the taxi in we also opened our windows and turned off the packs and recirc fans. After the flight felt shaky and loss of energy (weak).
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Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.