DOD Test of Viral Spread on Commercial Planes Reveals Good News, General Says
The head of U.S. Transportation Command offered a sneak preview Wednesday of the results of a Defense Department test of particulate spread on commercial aircraft — and they are surprising.
Speaking at the National Defense Transportation Association’s annual fall meeting, Gen. Stephen Lyons cited an aerosol test held Aug. 24-31 aboard two large passenger aircraft: the Boeing 767-300 and 777-200. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, better known as DARPA, teamed up with biodefense company Zeteo Tech Inc. to evaluate in-flight spread of airborne particles. Industry partners included Boeing and United Airlines.
“[The test] was an initiative initiated by TRANSCOM and supported by the Air Force and the test community to determine whether it’s safe to fly on commercial airliners,” Lyons said Wednesday. “And I have to tell you, their results, as were the results when we looked at this from the COVID patient movement challenge, are very, very encouraging.”
There are some qualifiers, Lyons noted. The conditions that yielded positive results, he said, involved aircraft with HEPA filtration and “a very, very high air exchange rate of every two to five minutes or two to three minutes.” (Read more from “DOD Test of Viral Spread on Commercial Planes Reveals Good News, General Says” HERE)
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