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Aviation History
1989
1989 - 2763.PDF
SKY-HIGH STUB-OUT Cigarette smoking is being increasingly restricted in daily life. Airlines are now following the trend, banning smoking even when government regulations allow it. Ian Dormer looks at the stub-outs. Illustration by Colin Paine. H ow many old Hollywood films are remembered for that romantic moment when the hero lights the leading lady's cigarette? Times have changed, however, and the trend for a healthier environment is even reaching to the skies as airlines throughout the world are reviewing their policies of allowing passengers to smoke. Smoking is now coming to be regarded as an anti-social habit, with non-smokers' concerned with the potential damage to their health from passive smoking. Restaurants, buses, and airport departure lounges are increasingly isolating or banning smokers to give users a cleaner environment. More airlines are now following this trend, and have banned smoking on their aircraft altogether. BEFORE AND AFTER It was the American Indians who started Sir Walter Raleigh, and thus the rest of the world, smoking tobacco. The Americans are now fighting back, and since April 23, 1988, smoking has been banned by Federal law on flights of less than two hours' duration. A Bill has now been introduced into the Senate proposing a ban on all domestic US flights. In a number of cases, airlines have taken unilateral action because of favourable passenger response to trial bans or studies. The airlines say that passengers have gener ally taken kindly to such action, and few smokers actually object. Most carriers have not permitted cigar or pipe smoking for some time, owing to the dense nature of the smoke and its persistent odour. HEALTH Last year, Scandinavian Airlines System introduced a trial smoking ban on Swedish domestic routes during the summer, because many families travel with children at this time of year. The airline has now banned smoking on its domestic routes throughout Sweden and Norway. The British Medical Journal recently published a report stating that "children with smoking parents start school with additional health risks". Non-smokers' fears of the health risk from passive smoking (when non-smokers "passively" inhale smoke from other people's cigarettes) are coming to the fore. One passenger was jailed in the USA last year for smoking in a no-smoking section of the aircraft on a flight from Boston to Los Angeles. The man intimidated the flight attendant when she tried to stop him lighting up, and he was jailed for 15 days and fined $500. VENTILATION On the narrow-bodied aircraft most affected by the two-hour ban, cabin air is replaced about every two or three minutes. The air is taken from engine compressor bleed valves, cooled, and filtered before being circulated into the cabin. The air is then released out of the rear of the aircraft, while the steady cabin pressure is maintained. Because taking air from the engine uses power, in modern aircraft existing cabin air can be partially recirculated, after it has been cleaned, by passing it through filters. This increases the length of rime smoke-filled air will remain in the cabin to about six minutes, but improves fuel efficiency. FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 9 September 1989 41
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