A320
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Smoke / Fire / Fumes / Odor
General Maintenance Action
Aircraft; Procedure; Human Factors
In my case [on two separate incidents] the solution [the company] applied to an oily fumes event was to address the source of the oil leak; then change the cabin ozone filters. From what I can tell; no effort was made in either case to clean the ducts through what Airbus calls a 'pack burn.'I attended [an industry safety forum] and the manufacturer of pack filters was there. He said the original filter is not designed to filter out oily fumes. They have a version available that does that; same part number; no STC required; that contains a carbon filter element.So what [the company] is doing; then; is temporarily covering up the oil fumes until it saturates & overcomes the new filters. I believe this may have; in part; contributed to fume events I had on the ground; at the gate.I am not completely sure about the oil-saturated filter theory because one of them also involved over-servicing of the APU oil. But in all three cases; heavy rain immediately preceded the fume event. I believe in some cases; oil was already in the packs & filters; but in 'nooks and crannies' and was released when the air density became much heavier almost immediately with the advent of the heavy rain.Anyway; I am concerned that due to lack of cleaning ('pack burns'); we are continuing to subject crews and passengers to continuous low-doses of oil fumes (known carcinogen); and then also large doses during fume events.
The reporter stated that there is a concern for his health that flying an aircraft after oil smell has been reported and repaired that the ducts still have residual oil and the fumes are still present. The reporter stated he has no way of knowing what kind of repairs Maintenance accomplished to resolve the issue or if a 'burnout' of the ducts was accomplished to burn all the oil out. The reporter also stated; too often the source of the oil smell is deferred; ('ie; APU over serviced') but the odor remains. The reporter added he would like more information of any maintenance action that has taken place and would be happy to take a delay in order to ensure all the proper steps have been taken to resolve the issue of the oil smell.
A320 Captain reported that after an oil smell in the cabin report; there was no effort to clean the pneumatic ducts.