Sensors on a Plane!
Originally shared at the QS Seattle meetup last month.
Took my Flow along on a long flight (LX1068, SEA-FRA, A330), followed by a short flight (LH490, FRA-ZRH, A320), with a few hours at an airport lounge in-between. Didn’t mark the exact times I got on and off planes, but it’s obvious enough:
The same trip in reverse (minus the lounge):
Notes:
- High VOC could be due to stale air, or it could be due to cleaning products (or some combination of both). Either way, good ventilation should lower the values.
- No issues with air quality at airports.
- Air quality isn’t great when you get on a plane, unless the plane is “fresh” (i.e. stood on the tarmac overnight), but then improves once underway. So no point rushing to board first
- I don’t know what to make of the brief bump in the middle of the long flight, in both directions. @GGlusman pointed out that the pm2.5 values go flat at the same time…
Here’s another long flight from a different trip (FI680, SEA-KEV, Boeing 737 MAX 9), followed by a shorter flight (FI568, KEV-ZRH, Boeing 737 MAX 8):
Notes:
- The long flight had much worse air quality than the long flights on the previous trip. Not if sure that’s due to the different aircraft models, or due to flying economy rather than business… The short flight was on a “fresh” plane.
The VOC sensor died before the return flight, so no more data 