4 ms·

I still remember they used disinsect the aircraft cabin, before you land in Indian airports with an aerosol spray https://www.transportation.gov/airconsumer/spr

• luciandan 1mo ago
  They do but chances are it's not 100% effective.
  • zbjornson 1mo ago
    Rather, "there is no evidence to show that using insecticide to kill mosquitoes inside aircraft cabins is effective in preventing introduction and spread of mosquito-borne diseases." https://www.epa.gov/mosquitocontrol/aircraft-disinsection https://www.epa.gov/mosquitocontrol/aircraft-disinsection Not sure where the idea came from that spraying the cabin aisle would penetrate the luggage bins, cargo hold, under the seats, or really anywhere.
    • nkmnz 1mo ago
      1. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. 2. Risk is convex, so every risk increase by measures not taken is multiplicative, not additive. The real question must be: does the disinfection do more harm than it provides reduction of risk.
      • xelxebar 1mo ago
        > 2. Risk is convex, so every risk increase by measures not taken is multiplicative, not additive. Wait. Is this true? f(x) = x^2 is convex but f(x+d) = f(x) + O(x). Are you saying that human risk assessment is estimated to be exponential?
        • deleted 1mo ago
          [deleted]
• mmsc 1mo ago
  They still do this when you land in Australia
  • blahlabs 1mo ago
    Not in my experience. I have only flown international ten times or so in the past 20yrs but I have never seen that when returning to Aus.
    • mmsc 1mo ago
      Every plane is. https://www.agriculture.gov.au/biosecurity-trade/aircraft-vessels-military/aircraft/disinsection https://www.agriculture.gov.au/biosecurity-trade/aircraft-ve...
      • djc404 1mo ago
        Probably depends on where the plane is coming from. Source: me who just returned from Europe last week, no spraying. And have traveled internationally several times in the last few years and also no spraying.
        • aaron695 1mo ago
          [dead]
        • robaato 1mo ago
          From the link: "Benefits of entering a voluntary formal arrangement include: * disinsection methods are undertaken while passengers are not on the aircraft." Used to see someone wandering down the aisles with spray cans on arrival - but not on the last several trips to Oz.
    • jemmyw 1mo ago
      I was interested in this because it happened the last time I returned to NZ, but I hadn't seen it before. There are several approved methods and it depends on the airline. The method that doesn't involve spraying with you onboard is more expensive so tends to be used by budget airlines, and also airlines who might rotate their planes and crew around routes more often because it is a treatment that lasts for weeks.
• kayo_20211030 1mo ago
  It used to happen in NZ too. I don't know if it still does.
  • PlunderBunny 1mo ago
    As a kid (in the early 70s) I remember the air hostesses walking down the isles with a spray can. They don’t do that any more, but I wonder if or why they don’t add lower concentrations of the aerosol to the air conditioning at the end of the flight.
    • dghlsakjg 1mo ago
      You could spend tens or hundreds of millions building an automatic system (certification for aircraft is not cheap or easy) or just hand the flight attendant a can of spray.
      • PlunderBunny 1mo ago
        Sure, but I can imagine the more expensive airlines worrying that the ‘optics’ of spraying your passengers down aren’t great (to be clear - I’m not objecting and I’d rather they do it). I wasn’t suggesting they retrofit to existing aircraft of the period, but rather just build it in as they design the next generation airflow system. Or do you think it would still be way too expensive even then?
        • rogerrogerr 1mo ago
          Adding systems to aircraft, whether retrofit or new design, is a horrifically complex and expensive thing. What kind of disinfectant is used? How is it distributed? Does it do something bad at -80 degrees C? At +80 C? If it freezes, what happens? What if someone loads the wrong thing into the disinfectant bucket? Like fuel? Or oil? Where do we put the switch to isolate the cockpit from the disinfectant? Where does flipping that isolation switch go in the unknown-fume-event checklist? What if it catches fire? It's not enough to say it can't catch fire, you must assume it will catch fire. The fire suppression system has to be aware of it. What if the fire suppression system erroneously thinks the disinfectant system is on fire? What if it was erroneously thought to be on fire, and then later _actually does catch fire_? How long can we fly with a flaming disinfectant system that someone in Terribadistan filled with kerosene? You probably have more than one disinfectant module, probably attached to each pack. Is the plane "disinfected" if only one pack is operational? If your disinfectant module fails, does it bring the pack down with it? No? Now we have to certify the packs for both with-and-without disinfectant module operation.
• gambiting 1mo ago
  They did that on our take off from Naples just a month ago, they said it's against insects.