Mary Roos did her initial training 19 years ago at the Sabena flight academy and soon after graduation she started working as a flight attendant medium haul and long haul. She was promoted to purser almost 13 years ago.
As from her initial training, she has flown on the Avro/146 family, ATR72, Dash8, Boeing 737, Airbus 320 family and the Airbus 330 family too…
She is passionate
about her job and still, after all this time, she really loves flying! But now
she is even more passionate about promoting healthy flight conditions and solutions.
After finding out
about the dangers of contaminated air in aircrafts and the impact of toxic
fumes on the human body, she started an awareness campaign on her own in the
company she is flying for.
Now looking back in
time, the first results and evolution are encouraging however she realizes that
there is still a long way to go…
Dr Michel Mulder is a medical doctor, specialising in aviation medicine. He served in Africa with Medcins Sans Frontières. There he was instrumental in organising a Hercules airlift, and caught the flying bug. Later, after qualifying as a pilot, Michel became a KLM pilot ending up on long-haul routes.
“Destinations in Africa” says Michel “were my favourite, for which I volunteered.” When pilots are able to bid for their preferred routes, most select Los Angeles, Boston, New York, Sidney, etc, but he would ask for Africa, using his stopovers to help organise village cleanwater schemes. At the same time he continued to practice as an aeromedical examiner on his days off.
He has now seen hundreds of Aerotoxic cases. In 2012 he diagnosed Richard Westgate as suffering the severest effects of Aerotoxic Syndrome.
Since
2008 Dr Mulder was involved in numerous research projects and co-authored
scientific studies and articles.
Born in 1954, Ap grew up in the Netherlands. He received his flight training in 1972-1975, at the Dutch Government Flight Academy. After that he spent 3 years in small
aviation, performing banner towing (advertisement) flights, aerial photography and
sight-seeing flights over the Netherlands.
In 1978, he joined a large Dutch airline company and spent 33 years there with great pleasure. After 7 years as a co-pilot on the DC9, he upgraded to Captain on the DC9, B737, A310 resp. (all short- and middle range routes). In 1994 he became a Captain on the B747-400 (long range). During the last 5 years before his retirement, his partner Annie would frequently accompany him on his trips, which they both enjoyed a lot. In 2011 he was retired, in good health and fit, and he wasn’t too keen to give up active
flying yet. So, when offered the opportunity, he happily accepted a position as
a Captain B747-400 in a South Korean company.
Ap: “Also in this ‘after career’ I was more than happy: many new destinations and routes, the interaction with new people, new cultures etc. It was a very intense period,
but in one word amazing!”
Unfortunately,
mid 2014 he suddenly got several acute health problems, like a sudden hearing
loss, neurological disorders and extreme fatigue.
Ap: “That was the abrupt end of a flying career and the start of a difficult period with lots of doctor appointments, getting to accept my limitations and searching for possible
causes. And of course for solutions, if at all possible…..”
“After a tip from a colleague, we were lucky enough to discover the cause of my health problems pretty soon: for years the air on board appears to have been contaminated with Organo Phosphates, severe toxins which damage the nerve system. Even very low doses can silently ‘pile up’ in your body until they reach a certain
critical level, and then suddenly cause this type of disorders.”
“At that time I was in a very bad shape indeed, almost like a Zombie. My short term memory was very bad, and my mind had slowed down dramatically. My vision was blurred and I was moving as in a slow motion movie. For about 4-5 months, driving a car was absolutely no option, as the world was going way too fast for me, I simply could not keep up. Sitting in the car as Annie was driving me to the next doctor or therapist, I’d suffer strong vertigo during turns, I’d literally brace myself with both hands. I had several strong tremors per day, which literally exhausted me. I slept well over 12 hours per night and even then I really needed a good extra nap in the afternoon to get through the day.”
“One of the nastiest symptoms there is probably the depressive emotions that come with it. I’ve fortunately never reached a point where I seriously considered to commit suicide, but I do understand now that so many people with these problems do take their lives. I’ve been particularly lucky to have the unconditional support, understanding and solidarity of my partner Annie to help me through this difficult period. Many a relationship gets under severe pressure or even strands completely as
the partner doesn’t understand what is happening to an AS patient (nor does the
patient himself) and why he/she changes so drastically.”
“I was again very lucky to come into contact with John Midavaine., an ex-orthopedist, who specialised in sports- and orthomolecular medicine. With his professional
guidance, food supplements and some supporting therapies, daily life gradually
became a lot more ‘normal’ again.”
“I personally experienced how important it is to get the right information passed on and to receive the proper support when you’re suddenly confronted with so many health issues which you don’t understand, a really threatening situation. This motivated Annie and I in 2017 to take part in the founding of Stichting Fly Aware. With
our contribution to this non-profit foundation we hope we can help others to get
going again, too.”
The board of Stichting Fly Aware consists of:
Chairman: Dr. John Midavaine
Secretary/Multimedia/International Contacts: Annie de Vries
1. Licentiate in
Experimental and Theoretical Psychology (Research psychologist)
Today this is called Master of Science in Experimental and Theoretical Psychology
2. Associate’s degree
in Electronic Engineering
3. Associate’s degree
in Biomedical Engineering
Separate courses:
1. Biomedical
Electronics (M.Sc. in Electronics and ICT Engineering Technology)
2. Biomedical Product
Development (M.Sc. in Biomedical Engineering)
3. Neuromodulation and
Imaging (M.Sc. in Biomedical Engineering)
Experience:
29 years experience in IT, Software developer, Web developer, System administrator
Organizations:
Board member of
Section Neuroscience and Psychophysiology [2017-present]
Section
Psychophysiology [2012 – 2017] organization position Board member and Technical
Advisor until it merged into the Section Neuroscience and Psychophysiology
QNBG (Quantified Neurophysiology Belgium Group) [1999 – 2005] as Scientific and Technical coordinator
Daniel Dumalin Contact:
AerotoxBrain@proximus.be
Daniel
Dumalin Publication:
Dumalin, D. (2017). The Contingent Negative Variation: The Cumulative Curve Method Revisited. In P. Sittiprapaporn (Ed.), Event-Related Potentials and Evoked Potentials (pp. 51-66). Intech. doi:10.5772/65183
Willem is a former commercial airline pilot from the
Netherlands. Willem always had a fascination for aviation since the time he was
a little kid. The fulfillment of his dream to become an airline pilot came into
manifestation when he started his training at the National School of Aviation
in the Netherlands. Before that he served as a green beret in the Special
Forces of the Dutch army and had several jobs in commerce.
Before his career as an airline pilot his physical health
was outstanding also as a result of intense and different sporting activities
during his youth.
When he finished his initial flight training in 1991 with
success he started as a copilot in small aviation on the Dornier 228. 2 years
later he joined Transavia Airlines where he operated as a co-pilot on the
B737-300 and 400.
In 1995 he was hired by KLM and where he continued his
flying career as co-pilot on the MD11. After 19 years he left the MD11 division
and started his training for captain on the B737. Due to his severely
deteriorating health condition he had to quit his job as a pilot completely in
2014 with more than 10 thousand flight hours. At this moment Willem does not
board any airplane anymore, also not as a passenger and he is trying to recover
from AS – Aerotoxic Syndrome.
His first health issues started roughly after 4 years of
flying with migraines, loss of energy, sleeping disorders and emotional stress.
He was diagnosed with burnout by the airlines health department first in 2001
and then again in 2003. During this period, he tried to recover from this
condition by changing his life drastically on all levels.
It took him 8 years to come to the definite conclusion that the increasing deteriorating health condition, despite the radical shifts in his life, was caused not by him but the result of something in the airplanes. Although he had strong suspicions that there was something “wrong” with the air supply he had no idea what this exactly could be. When he came in contact with people that had knowledge of AS he started to take samples of the air, his blood and urine and tested these on the presence of organophosphates, in particular TCP’s and its affiliated isomers.
All the tests were positive and from then on his battle against the airline and the industry started which resulted in a big lawsuit in 2013. The mainstream media labeled him from that moment ‘The Toxic Pilot’.
Charlie
Bass has 15 years experience as an aircraft engineer in the Royal Navy Fleet
Air Arm, and therefore has a full understanding of aircraft operational
systems. Charlie is trained in Nuclear biological and Chemical Defence,
so he understands nerve agents and their effects on the human body. He had been
appointed by a Secretary of State in the UK to the OFCOM advisory council (the
independent body overseeing the activities of the UK’s communications
regulator). This has given him
experience of watching how an industry regulator, the industry it regulates and
government operate/collude for mutual benefit. This reflects exactly what is
happening today within the aviation sector and the CAA/EASA governments and
airlines.
Following
the death of his son, British Airways aircrew Matthew Bass in January 2014,
Charlie has been actively campaigning on the toxic cabin air front, spending
four years in a legal process with Matt’s coroners hearing, which acted as the
catalyst for ‘Unite the Union’ based in the UK which Matt was a member of, to
take up Matt’s case and 120 other cases by those affected by contaminated
air. Taking the airlines and CAA to court, was reflected last week in many
news sources and is currently in progress.
This is the very first introduction episode for ‘The 3 Pillars’ Podcast.
Listen to the host Chriselda, share a little bit about herself and about what the podcast – The 3 Pillars, means. Find out what you can look forward to from the show.
Chriselda Barretto 