In a turbulent world I like to highlight the 'good news' stories, but there aren't any.
Here though an issue of note that touches on the past which is all I have nowadays. No fewer than 180 ex-services personnel are suing the Ministry of Defence for early presentations of various cancers... and winning, despite the MoD refusing to accept liability.
The issue appears to focus on the inhalation of exhaust fumes from helicopters, and looking at the pictures you could understand why: invariably helicopter turbines are situated on the roof, while winch men like the ones pictured in the BBC article were sat all day at the doorway directly underneath.
Many though are ex-pilots, some of whom trained the royal family who were given helicopters to play with, sensibly because this was viewed as the least likely way to die: unless you spend your working life in one. Accordingly there could be a simpler explanation, and that relates to the cabin air drawn from the compressor stages of the engine and used for cabin heating and cooling, beside pressurisation in airliners in particular.
Briefly, the compressor spools go round and round and their bearings are lubricated with oil to keep that happening and when oil overheats (as it likes to do in bearings) then the oil vaporises and chemical additives are ingested eventually into the lungs.
This was an issue among airline pilots, but you are up against airline manufacturers and oil companies and the revenue they provide their governments... not forgetting the fact that together they get us to the seaside each summer. Failing to investigate such issues is a corporate corruption that we all take part in, therefore, in the way that we're all involved in killing Russians and Palestinians whether we choose to or not.
One reason these campaigns die:
The BA cabin fumes campaign refers to efforts by aviation unions and some crew members to raise awareness and address concerns about potential health risks associated with contaminated air in aircraft cabins. This campaign highlights instances of "fume events" where engine oil fumes, potentially containing toxic compounds, enter the aircraft's ventilation system and contaminate the air breathed by pilots, cabin crew, and passengers.
...is that the people running them keep dying, so that it's a bit like trying to arrange football tournaments from the trenches in WW1: sadly they're likely to be one-offs.
Though many years ago I did attend a small convention at Cranfield, which was like a coach-tour to Lourdes... following lame, wheelchair-bound and confused people into a small hall for a series of personal presentations. Remember the fallout from the Icelandic volcanic ash that shut down trans-Atlantic aviation? Well the captain who flew the Easyjet flight immediately following its engines having had a chemical rinse was sat like 'House' with his stick behind me.
And what struck me too was the number of oil-rig workers: the same services that turbines provide airliner cabins also service the living quarters and all else on North Sea oil-rigs. And indeed I had myself experience of a 'fume event' shortly after the engine start on an old Airbus taxying out at Manchester one night, its tell-tale odour of 'sweaty socks' being unmistakable; albeit most co-pilots wore sweaty socks.
The thing is, children, that when adults get together in groups they're emboldened to act in immoral ways that otherwise guilt and shame would most likely prevent them from pursuing in their individual lives. Yes, we all enjoy watching people die on YouTube over coffee and pastries, but it's not something we actively participate in until we join the airlines, or the Catholic Church.
Funny thing is ~ and I came close from time to time ~ were we to be asked whether we still wanted to fly helicopters if it meant dying sooner, most of us would still say yes the way few teenagers connect flying a fast jet with killing themselves or others, at least at the outset.
Set homework for next week: An Irish Airman Foresees his Death, W.B.Yeats.
