Toxic Plane Fumes Linked to Mysterious Deaths of Pilots, Crew

An American Airlines captain who suddenly couldn't hit a ping-pong ball may now be one of the highest-profile faces of a simmering question in aviation: can toxic fumes in jet cabins slowly kill the people who work there? In an extensive look at the problem, the Wall Street Journal investigates tragedies including that of Ron Weiland, a 54-year-old Boeing 767 pilot in strong health, who began stumbling over simple tasks in late 2016—missed serves in table tennis, slurred speech after a single drink, difficulty with routine passenger announcements. By mid-2017 he was diagnosed with ALS, the fatal neurodegenerative disease, and died in early 2019. Months before his first symptoms, Weiland had aborted a flight out of Miami after the cabin filled with a thick, oily-smelling haze, a so-called "fume event" in which engine oils or other fluids enter the air supply.

In a later deposition, his wife said that when he could no longer talk, he repeatedly typed one word on his iPad: "fumes." She sued Boeing, alleging contaminated cabin air triggered his illness; the company denied any link but quietly settled in 2022. Weiland's case is part of a growing body of allegations and research suggesting that these fume events—long acknowledged but often treated as simply a nuisance—may be associated with serious neurological, cardiac, and mental health problems among pilots and flight attendants. The Journal, reviewing FAA data, reported that such incidents at major US airlines were almost 10 times more frequent in 2024 than a decade earlier, and some medical specialists say the pattern is hard to ignore.

The Journal recounts stories of pilots who died of heart attacks weeks after fume events, flight attendants who developed brain tumors or suffered strokes, and colleagues who took their own lives after what doctors labeled chemically induced brain injuries. Coroners have stopped short of formally blaming toxic air for such deaths, and airlines insist cabin air is safe, but some coroners have urged colleagues to consider fume exposure whenever relatively young crew members die unexpectedly. As for what's driving these cases, Weiland's widow, who watched him fade after that fog-filled taxi in Miami, has no doubt: "He was poisoned," she says. Read the full story at the Journal.