BA Pilot’s Family Says “Aerotoxic Syndrome” Contributed to Death

The twin of a deceased, former British Airways pilot testified about his brothers’s long-held belief that toxic cockpit air was responsible for the health problems that would eventually lead to his death.

In life, British Airways Captain Richard Westgate struggled with serious health problems as well an uphill battle to convince his doctors and employer that his medical issues were related to toxic air in the cockpit. Following Westgate’s death, his family has picked up that gauntlet.

The Daily Mail reports that Westgate’s 47-year-old twin brother and fellow British Airways pilot, Guy recently testified on his brother’s behalf. Guy Westgate detailed the deceased aviator and close loved one’s tragic story in an emotional testimony before a coroner’s inquest in Salisbury, England. Dr. Simon Fox QC, the coroner leading the inquest, has already announced that he will not consider allegedly toxic flight deck conditions on commercial jetliners as a possible cause of death.

The coroner stated at the onset of the hearing that the inquest will instead determine other factors that may have contributed to the former pilot’s death, including a likely heart condition and the possibility that he took his own life by way of a drug overdose. Guy Westgate absolutely dismissed the notion that his brother committed suicide in testimony this week.

“He was angry, frustrated, disillusioned. He couldn’t believe he was let down by so many people,” Westgate told the courtroom. “He couldn’t believe the medical profession let him down so badly.”

Guy Westgate recounted how his brother at first tried to hide symptoms that included debilitating headaches, vision problems, confusion and sleep issues. As his health problems progressed, Westgate was eventually forced to take leave from the job he loved.

British Airways officials, government regulators and even Westgate’s own union have repeatedly reached the conclusion that there is no evidence that the environment inside a commercial jet plane is anything but safe for both passengers and employees.

For the rest of his life, however, the deceased pilot remained steadfast in the belief that his health issues were caused by the recycled (and according to some, tainted by engine chemicals to the point of toxicity) air circulated throughout commercial jetliners. According to his sibling’s testimony, near the end of his life, the ailing pilot relocated to the Netherlands to seek treatment from doctors who very much believed that his condition was related to the decades he spent in the cockpit.

“The Dutch team he found were the first people who believed in him,” Guy Westgate told the inquest. “He had been let down by doctors – BA doctors, BALPA (British Airline Pilots Association) doctors. The specialists he found in Holland were the first group who finally gave him light at the end of the tunnel. He went there to be cured.”

Richard Westgate was found dead in his hotel room in the Netherlands in December 2012. Westgate was said to be in the process of suing British Airways over the health and safety violations he believed had destroyed his health at the time of his death.

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