Everything I will now state are claims brought forth by the film. On most plane trips, these engine fumes lead to lightheadedness, dizziness, and occasionally someone passing out. However, sometimes the fumes are so bad they can lead to memory loss and loss of consciousness. This can happen to passengers, flight attendants, and pilots. When pilots have been affected severely, it has led to many grounded flights in which passengers are merely told there was an engine problem. Flight attendants and pilots inhale low levels of these fumes every day and end up with compromised immune systems, orders of magnitude higher risk of cancer than the average person, and persistent respiratory and cardiovascular issues. Everybody Flies goes into far more detail and makes a scientific and emotional case for all of these points. I highly recommend everyone watch the film to decide for themselves on the efficacy of all of these claims.
What is clear is how much the airline industry did not, and does not, want anyone talking about this issue. Loraine and Moran examine many cases of stolen and destroyed evidence, pilot reports that were altered, and victims being harassed and followed by mysterious individuals after trying to speak out about this public health issue and its many victims. These are the same tactics that have been used against whistleblowers around the world and serve only to confirm the reality of this terrible situation almost as much as the scientific evidence.
“…meticulous in its design…”
The film is meticulous in its design, most likely owing to its long development. Due to effective direction, I felt like I was right there with Loraine as he went from learning how to test for the fumes to talking to a person who’s working on getting this method of bringing in air to a cabin illegal in their country. The most impactful vignette was a personal account of a flight attendant who was bedridden for weeks after long-term exposure to the fumes and had to be cared for by her 8-year-old child.
What is most depressing is that not only are passengers being misled about the safety of flying but so are many flight attendants and pilots. Everybody Flies was able to connect with me by reframing the sympathetic question, “How many more innocent airline workers must get sick and die before this entirely preventable issue is solved?” into the empathic one, “How many of us will stand by and let ourselves be poisoned for some company to widen their profit margin?”. This isn’t about just the airline industry, it’s about everyone because everybody flies.
"…isn't about just the airline industry..."
