B737-700
Flight Attendant Current
Physiological - Other; Distraction; Confusion; Situational Awareness
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Maintenance; Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Illness / Injury; Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Smoke / Fire / Fumes / Odor
Flight Crew Returned To Departure Airport; Flight Crew Took Evasive Action; Flight Crew Landed As Precaution; General Maintenance Action; General Physical Injury / Incapacitation; General Release Refused / Aircraft Not Accepted
Procedure; Aircraft; Company Policy
Shortly after reaching 10;000 FT; I received a call from the two flight attendants in the back saying they smelled a strange; oil burning smell; [Flight Attendant] C's face began to tingle and they had called the guys to let them know. I told them I was starting to smell something too so I called the guys to inform them and they said they could smell it too. Minutes after getting off the phone with the pilots; the flight attendants in the back called again and said [Flight Attendant] C was starting to feel nauseous and light headed. At that moment; I began to get nauseous; light headed and sweaty; my brain became foggy and I had trouble lifting my hands. Immediately; I called the pilots and told them to get us on the ground. They asked if we wanted paramedics to meet us and [Flight Attendant] B said yes. As we began to descend; the smell started to dissipate. Approximately 30 minutes later; we were landed and at the gate. I opened the door and had the passengers stay in their seats. The Agent came on and started bombarding me with information about the new airplane we were taking; when it was coming in; what gate we were at and what gate we were going to. I just looked at her and told her I could not comprehend what she was saying. At that point; the First Officer interrupted her and asked if we could discuss where the paramedics were first. Finally the paramedics arrived; went to the back to check out the flight attendants and we deplaned the passengers. During deplaning I started to get a headache followed by a metallic taste in my mouth. I was confused and foggy brained. The First Officer swam upstream past the passengers to get me a Paramedic who asked me questions; did some tests and told all the flight attendants that we needed to go to the hospital. We did not ride in an ambulance; a Supervisor drove us. The pilots and the passengers were sent on to our filed destination on another aircraft. While at the hospital; 2 of us had our blood drawn; were given oxygen and were diagnosed with mild high carbon monoxide poisoning. The other Flight Attendant was in shock and kept saying she was fine so the did not draw here blood and she was released early. The next day; her symptoms appeared. In the maintenance report it states that an oven caused the smell. I spoke with one of the mechanics who worked on the plane and he said they had him replace the oven and wrote that up as the problem. However; the ovens are electric and the only oven running was the one in the front of the cabin and there was no smoke and nothing in it was burning to cause the carbon monoxide not to mention that the back got hit first and far greater with symptoms so I find it hard to believe that it was the front oven. Apparently it was brushed aside that the engine was new that day and was not run before we flew it. There was an aircraft the day before that also had a new engine that was not run before flight and also had an air quality. According to the Mechanic; new engines should be run at extremely high speeds on the ground to burn off any chemicals that may be on the new engine. Boeing does not require this so our carrier does not do it. These new engines need to be run on the ground to clear any chemicals before they should be allowed to fly. Carbon monoxide detectors would be a very useful device to have in the aircraft's as well.
A B737-700 developed a strange; oil burning smell during climb which physiologically affected the flight attendants. The aircraft returned to the departure airport where the flight attendants were taken to the hospital and found to have elevated Carbon Monoxide blood levels.