:00:00. > :00:09.Welcome to Inside Out North West with me, Dianne Oxberry. Tonight, a
:00:10. > :00:12.special investigation into why some pilots in our region believe the
:00:13. > :00:17.planes they are flying are making them ill and why they say that is
:00:18. > :00:21.unsafe for passengers. I couldn't remember if I had been
:00:22. > :00:25.cleared to land. My skills were going downhill to the point where I
:00:26. > :00:29.was becoming dangerous. The whole point of an aeroplane is you cannot
:00:30. > :00:34.open the window. You are in an enclosed environment. And why an
:00:35. > :00:38.Englishman's home is his castle This man from Birkenhead is refusing
:00:39. > :00:42.to move even though all of his neighbours' houses have been pulled
:00:43. > :01:01.down. My Mam brought ten of us up in here and I am the last one. I am
:01:02. > :01:05.staying here. Pilots in our region believe they
:01:06. > :01:09.are being slowly poisoned by their aircraft. Jacey Normand investigates
:01:10. > :01:24.whether at 30,000 feet there is something in the air.
:01:25. > :01:27.Flying has become part of our everyday lives and you would expect
:01:28. > :01:32.to arrive at your destination safe and well. But for some pilots and
:01:33. > :01:37.passengers it doesn't always work out that way. I was the captain of a
:01:38. > :01:51.large jet airliner and I flew jets for 15 years. I never got phased by
:01:52. > :01:55.anything. But now I couldn't do it. I was flying long haul for 13 years.
:01:56. > :01:59.It is unthinkable to get on a flight well in the morning and get off it
:02:00. > :02:02.long life sick in the afternoon Most of the airlines are bantered be
:02:03. > :02:08.in denial because their profits depend on not acknowledging what is
:02:09. > :02:12.going on. I think if you would ask an airline passenger how much gas
:02:13. > :02:19.you would like in the cabin on your flight today, all of them would say
:02:20. > :02:25.nothing. Back in 2012, a British pilot lay sick and dying in a
:02:26. > :02:32.hospital bed in Amsterdam. His name was Richard Westgate. He was a jet
:02:33. > :02:38.pilot, he was very fit. He was only 42 years of age. Single man. He
:02:39. > :02:43.could not understand what was wrong with him. Scottish solicitor Frank
:02:44. > :02:49.Cannon was contacted by Richard for help as he felt there was no one
:02:50. > :02:57.else to turn to. His GP and his specialists were never able to reach
:02:58. > :03:04.a diagnosis whatsoever. He rapidly came of the few that decontamination
:03:05. > :03:10.of the cabin air was killing him. Richard's belief he was being
:03:11. > :03:18.poisoned came from the way the air is supplied in the cabin. Most
:03:19. > :03:23.modern aircraft are designed so the air come through the engines. It is
:03:24. > :03:29.called lead air and mixed inside the aircraft with recycling `` recycled
:03:30. > :03:34.air. The engines contain liquid It can mean any leaking quickly turn
:03:35. > :03:39.into a mist that circulates throughout the plane and is inhaled
:03:40. > :03:48.by people on board. These components can include lethal toxins such as
:03:49. > :03:53.TCP, a organophosphates. It is these substances that Richards believed
:03:54. > :03:59.had made him ill. I detected that Richard was on a mission in the last
:04:00. > :04:05.couple of months to expose the whole thing. He got angrier and angrier as
:04:06. > :04:11.time went by. That upset him a lot. He could not understand why he was
:04:12. > :04:17.in the condition he was in. He was on a mission to establish that
:04:18. > :04:23.decontamination of the cabin air had to be stopped. He was very keen to
:04:24. > :04:37.prove that he should expose the whole thing. Stories from pilots and
:04:38. > :04:41.cabin crew of polluted air have been around for a while and they have
:04:42. > :04:46.developed a name, aerotoxic syndrome. I tracked down to ex`pilot
:04:47. > :04:50.in our region who believe they were made ill by the air they breathe
:04:51. > :04:58.white flying jet aircraft. They wished to remain anonymous. I wasn't
:04:59. > :05:03.quite as sharp as I had been. You start to forget things in your daily
:05:04. > :05:08.life, you become forgetful. Not just where your car keys are. I got worse
:05:09. > :05:13.and worse and my family started to notice. I went to the doctor and
:05:14. > :05:18.said, I think I am going mad. I had a poor immune system and fatigue. I
:05:19. > :05:28.could not sit down without falling asleep. I was unable to complete a
:05:29. > :05:32.short flight without falling asleep. These symptoms were occurring when
:05:33. > :05:35.they were still flying aeroplanes which could have had serious
:05:36. > :05:43.consequences for passengers and crew. My local ablative skill was
:05:44. > :05:47.getting worse. `` my cognitive skill. I could not remember if I had
:05:48. > :05:53.been cleared to land. I was becoming dangerous. I was on the approach
:05:54. > :05:57.somewhere when it gets busy sometimes you have to train runways
:05:58. > :06:02.and reprogram the computer. It is an easy process. It is like putting on
:06:03. > :06:07.your windscreen wipers but I could not read what was on the screen It
:06:08. > :06:11.was getting crushed in the approach and we had to swap over so he could
:06:12. > :06:17.programme the computer and land the aeroplane. It has been noticeable to
:06:18. > :06:20.me over the last few years the disproportionate number of my
:06:21. > :06:29.patients who are pilots or cabin crew and who have become ill as a
:06:30. > :06:32.result of flying. Dr Jenny Goodman practices nutritional and
:06:33. > :06:38.environmental medicine in London. She has tested over 25 pilots to
:06:39. > :06:41.seek what is in their system. There is a whole array of them and they
:06:42. > :06:49.are the products of burnt engine fuel and engine oil. Some of them
:06:50. > :06:55.are gone panel force the and these are neurotoxic. `` these are
:06:56. > :07:01.organophosphates. They make the pole field fatigue and can't think
:07:02. > :07:08.straight. The symptoms will manifest in the digestive system, the mental
:07:09. > :07:12.functioning in the respiratory system and the nervous system. Every
:07:13. > :07:16.system of the body. That very multiplicity is what makes the
:07:17. > :07:23.conventional medical profession suspicious. None of these
:07:24. > :07:27.allegations are new to the Department of Transport. In 200 the
:07:28. > :07:32.commission Cranfield University to test the quality of air in 100
:07:33. > :07:37.flights and they reported their findings back in 2011. With regard
:07:38. > :07:59.to organophosphates or TCP, they found that:
:08:00. > :08:06.why are so many pilots across the world still blaming the air the
:08:07. > :08:10.leave on the aircraft? `` they breathe on the aircraft? I wanted to
:08:11. > :08:14.know why the industry doesn't accept that it is a problem. I spoke to the
:08:15. > :08:23.chairman of the committee that reviewed the Cranfield study. It is
:08:24. > :08:28.clear that episodes occur in which the air in aircraft becomes
:08:29. > :08:33.contaminated by components and engine oil or combustion products
:08:34. > :08:37.and this can happen occasionally. The levels that occur for the vast
:08:38. > :08:45.majority of the time and extremely low. They are well below those at
:08:46. > :08:49.which any adverse effect would be expected to occur. All chemicals can
:08:50. > :08:55.be harmful to people if you are sufficiently exposed and one of the
:08:56. > :09:00.fundamental principles of toxicology is the toxic effect depends on the
:09:01. > :09:04.dose. If you take alcohol, for example, that is a world of
:09:05. > :09:10.difference between eating in the queue at chocolate and consuming a
:09:11. > :09:16.bottle of whiskey in one go. They would have to be hundreds of
:09:17. > :09:19.thousands of times higher than occur in normal operation of the aircraft
:09:20. > :09:35.in order to come close to the level at which you might expect adverse
:09:36. > :09:39.effects. If the quantity of the TCP in an aircraft is the desert that
:09:40. > :09:43.the determining factor, and the government has set a safe level we
:09:44. > :09:50.wanted to save ourselves what levels of TCP is present in flights from
:09:51. > :09:55.the UK. We took to European flight and used air samplers to test the
:09:56. > :10:02.quality of the air. Once the flights were completed we said the samples
:10:03. > :10:05.to be tested in Canada. One man who says it is not the size of the dose
:10:06. > :10:11.that is the issue but the body s ability to do detox if a firm is Dr
:10:12. > :10:15.Michel Mulder, a former pilot. He has been studying the effects of
:10:16. > :10:20.fume inhalation on flights and has seen over 150 pilots and say some of
:10:21. > :10:24.them will always have problems getting organophosphates out of
:10:25. > :10:33.their system. It is a tumour to have effect of a low`dose. `` cumulative.
:10:34. > :10:39.Why can some people get rid of the toxins? It is biochemistry. It
:10:40. > :10:48.depends on the type of enzymes you have in the liver to detoxify these
:10:49. > :10:50.components. Some people are not able to be toxic fight and metabolise
:10:51. > :10:59.alcohol and they will develop problems with the liver. This
:11:00. > :11:01.applies also to organophosphates. We designed a DNA test with two
:11:02. > :11:06.laboratories in Germany and Luxembourg. We have seen 70 people
:11:07. > :11:14.who have done the test. There is a small category we call the Paula
:11:15. > :11:17.metabolise is. They will develop problems in about three to four
:11:18. > :11:32.years after regular exposure to low level organophosphates that you find
:11:33. > :11:35.in nearly every normal flight. If Doctor Michelle Mulder is right and
:11:36. > :11:38.there are some people who are poor work detoxify is, they will be made
:11:39. > :11:47.ill by one of the industries greater issues, eight fume event. There are
:11:48. > :11:51.two types of exposure they get. That is the low`grade chronic exposure
:11:52. > :11:56.over many years that frequent flyers also get. Tiny amounts of chemicals
:11:57. > :12:09.but affecting these people is because they are sensitive to them.
:12:10. > :12:15.Then there are the fume incidents. Eight fume event is something the
:12:16. > :12:20.industry recognising as a problem. It happens when the seals in the
:12:21. > :12:25.engine failed resulting in fumes or smoke entering the cabin. According
:12:26. > :12:30.to government statistics, a fume event only happen in one in every
:12:31. > :12:37.2000 flights but was are the effects of them? The committee for toxicity
:12:38. > :12:41.found that although the pilots were ill be explained a possible reason
:12:42. > :12:47.was the expected to be ill after having smoke in the cabin, they call
:12:48. > :12:50.this the new Siebel effect. The levels that occur for the vast
:12:51. > :12:56.majority of the time and extremely low. They are well below those at
:12:57. > :13:02.which any adverse effects would be expected to occur. The question now
:13:03. > :13:10.is how much higher might concentrations go to ring pollution
:13:11. > :13:14.episodes `` new ring pollution episodes? The pollution episodes are
:13:15. > :13:19.rather brief and we can say that if they were going to cause adverse
:13:20. > :13:23.toxic effects increase in exposures would have to be quite enormous
:13:24. > :13:29.during those periods. It is very difficult to capture an event when
:13:30. > :13:38.the pollution is occurring because they are infrequent stop monitoring
:13:39. > :13:42.is not easy. The whole point is about an aeroplane is you cannot
:13:43. > :13:49.open the window. You are in pain in closed environment. Many of my
:13:50. > :13:52.patients describe a serious fume incidents on a plane happened at the
:13:53. > :13:57.beginning of a long haul flight and the flight then continued for
:13:58. > :14:01.another 12 hours. Many passengers become ill, many crew become ill but
:14:02. > :14:06.you can't get out. If you do that for a living and you do it year in,
:14:07. > :14:16.year out, unless you have got very least from systems you will become
:14:17. > :14:19.ill. Whilst Dr Goodman and Dr Mulder
:14:20. > :14:24.insist there is evidence of toxic exposure, the medical establishment
:14:25. > :14:29.still refused their claims. I don't see evidence of a specific unique,
:14:30. > :14:35.unusual pattern that occurs in relation to the exposure. Nor am I
:14:36. > :14:41.confident it is due to a toxic effect that might be a toxic effect,
:14:42. > :14:45.but it might be a psychological one. I am clear that illness, real
:14:46. > :14:52.illness is occurring, real disability and that it is related to
:14:53. > :15:04.the exposures but it is not a specific, unique syndrome of signs
:15:05. > :15:07.and it may not be a toxic event ??All these new syndromes, each of
:15:08. > :15:10.which is initially received by the establishment with the phrase, it
:15:11. > :15:14.does not exist, and then ten years later it exists but it is only
:15:15. > :15:18.psychological. Then ten years after that, it exists but we do not know
:15:19. > :15:21.what to do about it. This syndrome is just one example of the chemicals
:15:22. > :15:29.that we are surrounded by making people ill. Doubting is very easy
:15:30. > :15:35.and you see this in the tobacco lobby when people start to say, it
:15:36. > :15:43.causes lung cancer. The first thing, the first line of defence, is doubt.
:15:44. > :15:47.Our test results came back from the lab in Canada and TCP was found to
:15:48. > :15:51.be present on our aircraft. The levels of TCP in the air are low and
:15:52. > :15:57.consistent with findings in similar studies. We asked the Department for
:15:58. > :16:02.Transport and the Civil Aviation Authority to comment on the claims
:16:03. > :16:23.made in this film. They declined an interview.
:16:24. > :16:28.We asked the CAA for an interview but they also declined. The Civil
:16:29. > :16:32.Aviation Authority regulates all aspects of flying in the UK and echo
:16:33. > :16:43.the Department for Transport statement.
:16:44. > :16:50.Some aircraft manufacturers have made changes. In 2011, Boeing's 787
:16:51. > :16:57.Dreamliner had its first commercial flight. It is the first passenger
:16:58. > :17:02.jet in 50 years to bring air into the aircraft without going through
:17:03. > :17:05.the engines. Boeing told us the primary reasons the 787 does not use
:17:06. > :17:08.an engine error system are fuel savings and environmental
:17:09. > :17:16.performance and they do not have plans to modify existing aeroplanes.
:17:17. > :17:19.The Dreamliner may be a breath of fresh air for the airline industry
:17:20. > :17:25.but sceptics will see this as a response to the increasing number of
:17:26. > :17:29.fume events. For people who believe they have been affected by toxic
:17:30. > :17:32.fumes, they will be turning their attention to the courts, with Frank
:17:33. > :17:38.Cannon intending to start legal proceedings against some airlines
:17:39. > :17:44.over the death of Richard Westgate. A cause of death is yet to be
:17:45. > :17:47.established. Frank has had Richard's tissue samples analysed and believes
:17:48. > :17:54.there is enough proof to reopen an inquest into his death. As a lawyer,
:17:55. > :17:57.I gather the evidence from various people and there are tests that have
:17:58. > :18:04.been done that demonstrate that organophosphate is present in the
:18:05. > :18:07.air. The airlines and the manufacturers know that the
:18:08. > :18:19.contamination is there and they have to do something about it. Until
:18:20. > :18:25.then, pilots who believe they have symptoms are having to give up the
:18:26. > :18:29.career they love. I have been off work for a few years. My memory is
:18:30. > :18:32.still pretty awful. It is like living in a bubble. You would not
:18:33. > :18:40.recognise me from the person I was before. I was outgoing, adventurous,
:18:41. > :18:45.nothing fazed me. Pilots' concern is that there are other pilots flying
:18:46. > :18:48.with this condition. I have had two colleagues phone me and ask about
:18:49. > :18:55.symptoms. They think they have got the same. They love flying but they
:18:56. > :18:59.do not want to lose their jobs. Whatever the outcome, it is clear
:19:00. > :19:03.from the pilots we have spoken to that the airline industry has to do
:19:04. > :19:12.more to find out why they have had to give up the career they love so
:19:13. > :19:17.much. They say an Englishman's home is his
:19:18. > :19:21.castle. For one Birkenhead man that has proved to be the case as all of
:19:22. > :19:24.his neighbours' houses have gradually been pulled down. Charlie
:19:25. > :19:28.Wright, a former boilermaker and shop steward, has been busy keeping
:19:29. > :19:37.his home while all about him have been moving theirs.
:19:38. > :19:45.I have lived here 62 years. I was born in this house. My mam got it
:19:46. > :19:53.just after the war. My mam brought ten of us up in here and I am the
:19:54. > :19:59.last one. I am staying here. This was one of the best estates ever. We
:20:00. > :20:14.had everything and now we have nothing. Not a thing. Not even
:20:15. > :20:19.neighbours. Once Charlie had hundreds of neighbours. Now he owns
:20:20. > :20:41.the last house standing, book`ended by the remains of two partially
:20:42. > :20:45.demolished buildings. Charlie's house is isolated and alone, but not
:20:46. > :20:48.long ago it was surrounded by 6 0 council properties, making up what
:20:49. > :21:00.were known as Birkenhead 's River Streets. There was Tees, Avon, Tyne,
:21:01. > :21:03.Solway, Tweed and Ribble. Post`war homes for thousands of workers who
:21:04. > :21:11.sustained the economy of the manufacturing and ship building
:21:12. > :21:14.town. The Queen Mother was at Birkenhead to launch the biggest
:21:15. > :21:20.liner built in Britain since the Queen Elizabeth which she herself
:21:21. > :21:31.named 21 years ago. She christened it Windsor Castle. 50,000 onlookers
:21:32. > :21:36.cheered it down the slipway. The steel mill went. Champion Spark
:21:37. > :21:48.Plugs went, the flour mills went, Mobil Oil went, the iron ore at the
:21:49. > :21:52.Penny Bridge, all gone. Where I am now, this is where we used to play
:21:53. > :21:58.as kids and this part here, this here used to be the wicket when we
:21:59. > :22:05.used to play cricket. If the ball went over here we were out. It was a
:22:06. > :22:11.working`class community where local industry once employed 14,000
:22:12. > :22:14.people. By the mid`80s, only 13 0 had jobs and the north end of
:22:15. > :22:20.Birkenhead began a slide towards poverty. Charlie, a boiler man by
:22:21. > :22:25.trade, was made redundant and his days as a shop steward were over.
:22:26. > :22:34.Even so, his community still provided a sense of place for
:22:35. > :22:39.families. The kids grew up, got married, got a house on the estate.
:22:40. > :22:46.So their kids could go and see their gran. That is how it was. I had
:22:47. > :22:54.three uncles and aunties, one in Brenwick Street, my uncle Freddie
:22:55. > :23:02.round the corner. My uncle round the back. All of the family was brought
:23:03. > :23:08.up on this estate. I am the last one. The only thing you ever see him
:23:09. > :23:15.doing is feeding the foxes, washing his car, making sure his flag is at
:23:16. > :23:20.high mast and doing his garden. Or coming over and saying, can you
:23:21. > :23:25.tighten this up? That is what you are there for. If something breaks
:23:26. > :23:30.down with my car, I go over to you. That is what neighbours are for We
:23:31. > :23:38.would have been the two last standing at the Alamo. You'd have
:23:39. > :23:41.been Jim Bowie. He has his own principles, hasn't he? It's like
:23:42. > :23:47.everything. If I had the money he has, I would be gone. Get lost. You
:23:48. > :23:57.may not have had a lot, but it was a community, it was decent housing.
:23:58. > :24:02.From terraced to semidetached and they are going to say it is in a
:24:03. > :24:07.deprived area. It is in dockland. You would not say that if it was
:24:08. > :24:14.down in London. Here we are on the second phase of the first block of
:24:15. > :24:20.houses that they are knocking down. There is the crane getting rid of
:24:21. > :24:24.all the bricks and that. Over the last dozen years, the council houses
:24:25. > :24:28.have been demolished. Charlie had bought his house in the early 8 s
:24:29. > :24:34.and the council once offered to buy it but he would not sell. The plan
:24:35. > :24:39.was to make room for new factories but the jobs and investment did not
:24:40. > :24:51.materialise. Without them his house could never be subject to compulsory
:24:52. > :24:57.purchase. That house over there That will be the next one to get
:24:58. > :25:11.knocked down. Those houses all the way down there. A dumping ground for
:25:12. > :25:15.toys. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. The waste ground left by the
:25:16. > :25:19.demolition may yet have a future. A plan to transform the derelict
:25:20. > :25:23.Birkenhead waterfront. The scheme, known as Wirral Waters, is the UK's
:25:24. > :25:27.largest regeneration project and has been recently approved by the
:25:28. > :25:43.government. Charlie could be getting new neighbours at last. Bottles
:25:44. > :25:47.everywhere. Terrible. Peel Holdings is planning to match what is a
:25:48. > :25:50.project on both banks of the River Mersey. Over 30 years they will
:25:51. > :26:00.invest billions of pounds and create thousands of jobs. Everyone on this
:26:01. > :26:13.estate had jobs. We all had jobs years ago. There is not even a job
:26:14. > :26:16.to get now. What can you do? I think this Peel Holdings if it takes off
:26:17. > :26:24.it is going to be like when Birkenhead was livened up from the
:26:25. > :26:27.ashes years ago. Peel has joined up with a Chinese company to build a
:26:28. > :26:31.huge international trade centre on the Wirral waterfront. Spread over
:26:32. > :26:38.2.5 million square feet it will be a giant shop front for Asian companies
:26:39. > :26:42.selling goods into Europe. The new site sits just across the road from
:26:43. > :26:46.Charlie's house. The land is not part of Peel's plans but one day it
:26:47. > :26:54.seems inevitable someone will want to develop it. The only real
:26:55. > :27:00.question then would be the price. It would have to be millions and
:27:01. > :27:04.millions and millions. I would give everyone on this estate a couple of
:27:05. > :27:28.thousand pounds each. Give everyone something. You can sit here, have a
:27:29. > :27:32.cup of tea. From upstairs I can look over to Liverpool and see the
:27:33. > :27:45.cathedral, the big wheel, see the ships, see cars passing. What more
:27:46. > :27:52.do I want? We were taught in school an Englishman's home is his castle.
:27:53. > :27:56.And a castle flies the flag. So I thought, I will have one at the back
:27:57. > :28:01.and one at the front and anyone comes near this house and it is
:28:02. > :28:06.world war three. No matter who it is. I do not care who they are. They
:28:07. > :28:11.will not come near this house while those flags are there. I would not
:28:12. > :28:22.like them to say, come on, you are getting out of here. No, this is my
:28:23. > :28:27.castle. It is one way to get a bit of peace
:28:28. > :28:31.and quiet. That is it for this week but do not forget you can catch us
:28:32. > :28:35.again on iPlayer and we are back again next Monday. Until then,
:28:36. > :28:38.goodbye. Next week, we reveal the
:28:39. > :28:44.conservation work helping wild birds at the Leighton Moss nature reserve
:28:45. > :29:03.in Lancashire. To see it through your own scope is amazing.
:29:04. > :29:08.Hello, I'm Sam Naz with your 90 second update.
:29:09. > :29:11.An independent Scotland can keep the pound. That's the message from First
:29:12. > :29:15.Minister Alex Salmond who insists it's better for UK business. He
:29:16. > :29:19.accused Westminster parties of bullying for ruling out a shared
:29:20. > :29:22.currency. Full story at Ten. Ten million pounds is being promised
:29:23. > :29:26.by the PM to help small business hit by recent storms. Severe flood
:29:27. > :29:29.warnings on the Thames have been downgraded, but experts say water
:29:30. > :29:33.levels could rise again. A co-pilot from Ethiopian Airlines
:29:34. > :29:37.has hijacked his own plane. He took control when the other pilot went to
:29:38. > :29:40.the toilet. He asked for asylum after landing in Switzerland.
:29:41. > :29:42.He's set to become Italy's youngest-ever prime minister.
:29:43. > :29:47.39-year-old Matteo Renzi is promising many reforms. He's mayor
:29:48. > :29:48.of Florence - but has never been an MP.
:29:49. > :29:51.We've got tablets, smartphones and laptops. But nine-out-of-ten of us
:29:52. > :29:52.still prefer the