Mysterious illness causes fainting and panic, forcing American Airlines flight to turn around

washingtonpost.com ^ | January 28 at 3:44 PM | Peter Holley

[Trumpinator]

This is the first I am hearing about it - in all seriousness.

[Mears]

“Americans are a bunch of hysterics and have been for years; i.e. “taking in the waters,” Snake Oil, and herbs and vitamins will serve as examples”

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Maybe the plane was full of Brits,or French,or Arabs.

.

[Company Man]

Textbook example of mass hysteria.

[babygene]

Most likely not an illness. Probably a toxin.

[Cyman]

Well documented in medical literature. The passengers attorney’s will try to blame it on something the airline had done( deep pockets) but this happens all the time.

[Trumpinator]

[to the passengers] All right, I'm going to level with you all. But what's most important now is that you remain calm. There is no reason to panic. [Rumack's nose grows]. Now, it is true that one of the crew members is ill... slightly ill. [Rumack's nose continues to grow]. But the other two pilots... they're just fine. They're at the controls flying the plane... free to pursue a life of religious fulfilment.

[Smokin' Joe]

Probably a toxin.

Intentional or otherwise.

[Trumpinator]

“they bought their tickets, they knew what they were getting into. I say, let ‘em crash.”

[dfwgator]

[Daniel Ramsey]

Two passengers, one has bleach in a shampoo bottle the other has a tube of ammonia based toothpaste.....?

Poor mans chlorine gas?

[livius]

I don’t think so. It was probably some kind of toxin, but it may not have been intentional, such as in terrorism. Believe it or not, it could’ve been meth. People are always turning up at hotels here, even good ones, with meth labs in their suitcases. Just in case they want to brew up a quick batch.

It’s extremely toxic and makes you sick and can cause permanent damage.

[BenLurkin]

[ßuddaßudd]

The stewardess is probably pregnant..
Im assuming its a she...

[DoughtyOne]

Free Republic Caucus 16 01/28
four days to Iowa

Vote

[DoughtyOne]

good carma will follow your donation to free republic

[MortMan]

I was really disappointed with the political edge they inserted, rather than making it conspiracy-based. My memory isn’t perfect, but I thought they had upended the original balance in favor of Duchovny’s predilictions.

[Company Man]

I hope we get to find out. I’ve seen references to other recent similar incidents.

[erlayman]

The article suggested a jet fuel or engine leak but I’m not sure why that would have affected the crew more than passengers.

[Shadow44]

Yelp. House even did an episode with this scenario. The original guy ended up having bends due to scuba diving before the flight, and of course the rest of the plane begins to act as a virulent infection took place.

[Smokin' Joe]

There are a number of possibilities which could be whipped up in a washbasin or toilet or drink cup. It might be possible that something in the plane is contaminated, too, and reacting with something brought on board, whether intentional or accidental.

I wonder if the aircraft has pressurization issues. (You would have to ask someone more familiar with aircraft systems than I am).

I think disease is unlikely unless the passengers who are affected have some common link.

While onset of symptoms from toxicity or hypoxia might occur in a matter of minutes or just a few hours, most pathogen induced symptoms have greater latency times.