Sunday Life has uncovered details of a number of recent incidents, including one terrifying episode last month on board a Flybe jet flying into George Best Belfast City Airport in which TWO crew members were violently ill and collapsed.

Flybe says its systems more than meet Civil Aviation Authority regulations.

Union officials say it is the latest in a number of potentially disastrous mid-air incidents in which crew members working for various airlines have become dangerously ill during flights.

Campaigners who believe the incidents are due to deadly toxins from jet engine oil contaminating the air supply have warned that the 'fuming' incidents are putting the long-term health of crew and passengers at risk and are also in danger of causing a major air catastrophe if pilots become incapacitated.

Details have emerged in a CAA report into a terrifying episode last month on board the Flybe jet.

Passengers on board the BAe 146 plane flying into Belfast from Birmingham were completely unaware of the drama at the rear of the aircraft, and of the fears of other terrified cabin crew that they may not have been able to deal with an emergency with incapacitated staff.

Dessie Henderson, senior organiser of the Transport and General Workers' Union in Belfast, says it's just one of an increasing number of 'fuming' incidents which are feared to be leaving airline staff and passengers facing possible long-term health problems due to so-called "aerotoxic syndrome" .

He told Sunday Life: "We are calling for a full investigation of the cause of these incidents.

"There have been numerous incidents and they can't continue to go unexplained when the health and safety of the cabin crews and the passengers on board the planes are at stake.

"If these incidents are down to organophosphates, then that is what the airlines need to be carrying out checks for, to see if their staff and our members have been exposed to it."

The air supply in air cabins is "bled" from the jet's engines and can become contaminated with dangerous organophosphates - including TCP - contained in jet engine oil.

The Government's Committee on Toxicity is currently examining the threat from contaminated cabin air, but union chiefs want the airlines, including Flybe, to improve their in-house checks for dangerous contamination.

According to the official CAA report into the Belfast City Airport incident on July 1, oxygen had to be administered to one of the staff members.

And the plane was met on the runway by fire and ambulance crews and all the staff on board, including the pilots, were sent to hospital for tests.

Flybe declined to comment on the specific incident when sent a list of questions by Sunday Life.

A spokesman said: "All Flybe aircraft are manufactured and maintained to the highest industry standards.

"Any incidents involving sickness experienced by cabin crew, flight crew or passengers are taken very seriously by the company, with appropriate medical support always provided.

"The statistically very small occurrences of on-board sickness indicate that our systems and processes are robust and more than meet all CAA regulatory demands.

"Flybe are at the leading edge of co-operative joint research in this area and are comfortable that our expertise marks us out as industry leaders. "

cmcguigan@belfasttelegraph.co.uk