Aviation After a Year of Pandemic Economics, People, and Technology: Proceedings of a Workshop (2022) / Chapter Skim
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4 Aircraft Design and Flight Operations, Personnel, and Performance
4 Aircraft Design and Flight Operations, Personnel, and Performance
Pages 23-30
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From page 23... ...
The topics of discussion included how changes in aircraft design could reduce the risk of disease transmission, the size of future aircraft in light of pandemic concerns, how the aircraft crew training might be modified in the future, and what changes should be made in the interactions among passengers and between passenger and air crew. The first speaker was Howie Weiss, a professor of biology and mathematics at Pennsylvania State University and the co-principal investigator of the FlyHealthy research study.
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From page 24... ...
Using the movement data combined with an estimate of the respiratory disease transmissibility, the team developed realistic models of the transmission during the course of a flight. A key conclusion of that study, Weiss said, was that if one assumes that most direct transmission occurs within 1 meter, then there should be very few cases of transmission aboard an aircraft beyond transmission among nearest neighbors.
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From page 25... ...
Any screening technologies that are looking for highly conserved regions of a viral genome will be able to detect emerging strains; on the other hand, they will not be able to tell the difference between old and new strains. Last, if infectious passengers and crew members are detected and prevented from leaving the security area, then there will be little need for other measures such as changes to aircraft and terminal ventilation systems, modifications to terminal and aircraft seating, modified boarding procedures, health passports, and contact tracing.
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From page 26... ...
"From our point of view," he said, "we do think that an end-to-end risk assessment model is key to assessing where to act." If, for example, it is shown that terminals typically pose risks that are much higher than aircraft cabins, it does not make sense to focus mainly on reducing risk in the cabin. Making such comparisons requires the development of accurate models that can guide decisions concerning where to act and which means will be most effective in reducing risk, he said.
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From page 27... ...
Then, noting that Weiss had focused on transmission of the virus through the air while Wohlers had focused on surface transmission, she asked whether either had thought about how to best balance efforts focused on one versus the other. Weiss answered that, as far as he knows, there is no definitive answer concerning how much viral transmission takes place through aerosols versus fomites (that is, surfaces)
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From page 28... ...
Next, Manning passed along a question from the audience about whether there are data concerning COVID infections among pilots and crew. Fox answered that because pilots and crew kept working through the pandemic -- sometimes carrying passengers, sometimes carrying protective equipment and other cargo -- that there were COVID cases.
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From page 29... ...
Manning passed along another question from the audience related to cabin air flow while the plane is grounded. Wohlers answered that the flow is less guided and controlled during ground time because people are moving around and disturbing the flow.
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From page 30... ...
30 AVIATION AFTER A YEAR OF PANDEMIC: ECONOMICS, PEOPLE, AND TECHNOLOGY the more disciplined deplaning process maintained in the future -- not so much to limit the risks of transmission but just because it is so much less stressful to deplane in this way. Fox said that aircraft have never been cleaner than they are right now, and that is something he would like to see maintained in the future.
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