Cabin Air – surface residue study

There has been concern that occasional leaks of aircraft engine oils or hydraulic fluid may contaminate cabin or cockpit areas; i.e. “”fume events””.These oils may contain organophosphate compounds. Previous research has shown that short peakconcentrations of ultrafine aerosols were occasionally found in aircraft, along with increased tri-n-butyl phosphate (TBP) and tricresyl phosphate (TCP) air concentrations. The present research measures residues on the internal surfaces ofaircraft and control environments to further investigate fume events.We developed a methodology to wipe residues from surfaces using the ethanolmoistened filters. The residues were analysed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry for TCP, TBP, butyl diphenyl phosphate (BDPP) and dibutyl phenyl phosphate (DBPP). Samples were obtained from different aircraft types, ground vehicles and offices. A total of 86 sample sets were collected. The surface residues in the passenger compartments were generally lower than in the cockpit. The mean amounts of TBP, DBPP and BDPP detected in the aircraft were similar to those in the control vehicles. For TCP the contamination in the control vehicles and the office locations were similar, and slightly lower than found on the aircraft. Estimates of air concentrations consistent with these surface residues were in agreement with other published data. “”