XPost: alt.usage.english   
   From: ibuprofin@painkiller.example.tld.invalid   
      
   On Fri, 08 Apr 2016, in the Usenet newsgroup alt.folklore.urban, in article   
   , Peter Moylan wrote:   
      
   >Moe Trin wrote:   
      
   >> 1960s - every time I flew into Hawaii from S.E.A. (mainly Viet Nam),   
   >> at about 15 minutes before landing, one stewardess would race the   
   >> length of the 707-320 with a spray can of some insecticide blasting   
   >> away, held low to avoid gagging the passengers. There was a detectable   
   >> aroma, but it was not intolerable.  I understood this was done at the   
   >> orders of the state of Hawaii, rather than the feds.   
      
   >This used to be done for _all_ incoming flights to Australia.   
      
   I must have been partying too hard on the flights, but I flew into Oz   
   (mainly Sydney, but Brisbane twice, Melbourne and Darwin once) in the   
   1960s, again mostly from SEA (BKK, KUL, SIN and JKT) and don't remember   
   this.   
      
   >(Including from Hawaii, which used to be the standard stop for flights   
   >between Australia and the USA.)   
      
   Yes, I so much enjoy the 17 hour flight from Los Angeles, rather than   
   being able to stop (and catch my circadian rhythm - among other things,   
   by stopping) at Hawaii and Tahiti (and such) enroute.    NOT!!!   
      
   >The smell was pretty strong, and I'm a little surprised that asthmatics   
   >survived it.   
      
   I think that most of the people flying back then were in better condition   
   but point taken.   In the case of Hawaii, the fumigant was something   
   stronger than pyrethrins (a "natural" insecticide from a plant), but it   
   wasn't as disastrous as DDT (which had by then been effectively banned).   
   The other point to think of is that the aircraft's air system CAN (not   
   necessarily would) be set to exchange the cabin air in no more that four   
   minutes (15 air changes per hour).  Today, you're more likely to run into   
   humidity problems (cabin air is usually too dry).   
      
   >I imagine that there's still form of disinfectation going on, but it's   
   >probably something more subtle delivered through the air conditioning.   
      
   We're rarely boarding an airplane out on the ramp (or similar) by means   
   of a set of stairs.  NEARLY all airports now have enclosed ramps from   
   the boarding area within the airport terminal building (so that the   
   passengers don't have to bear the blistering heat/cold/rain/what-ever   
   while boarding/deplaning, never mind having to _climb_ stairs!!!), and   
   the air is "filtered" through some minimal air-conditioning system, so   
   there is a bit less chance of the nasty buggies boarding along with the   
   paying passengers.   
      
           Old guy   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)