Is contaminated air in planes making us sick?

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Official figures suggest that the air in one in 2,000 flights is polluted with engine oil.
But unions claim so-called 'dirty air' occurs much more frequently, causing both pilots and passengers to suffer nausea, headaches, dizziness and lethargy.

Last year, there were 116 contaminated air events reported to the Civil Aviation Authority, out of 1.3million passenger and cargo flights.

Contaminated: Staff at Flybe refused to fly on its BAE146 planes last October after two stewardesses collapsed and all seven crew were taken to hospital

In October, staff at the budget airline Flybe refused to board the company's fleet of BAE 146 aircraft, saying poor air quality was putting them and their passengers at risk.

It came after two stewardesses collapsed during a flight and all seven crew members had to be taken to hospital.

Experts have blamed the problem on air from deep within the engines being used to pressurise the cabin. Siphoned off from the engines before the fuel is burned, the 'bleed air' is cooled before being pumped into the cabin. Faulty seals can lead to the air being contaminated with fumes from the engine oil - with seals prone to leak when the plane is on the ground, as well as during take-off and landing.

The study will use equipment provided by Cranfield University to measure the cabin air on five different types of aircraft from five different, undisclosed, airlines.

It is hoped the research will identify any toxins in the air so filters can be developed to prevent dangerous components entering the cabin.

Jim Fitzpatrick, the Government's aviation spokesman, said: 'We are filling a gap in worldwide knowledge because there are no published studies of air sampling during fume events anywhere.'

Professor Helen Muir, who is leading the research, said: 'It's going to be difficult, and that is why we are using the latest equipment to do it.

'We do know we are looking for volatile organic chemicals to a very, very high level of accuracy. This sort of thing doesn't happen often in aviation.'