An A319 flight attendant detected a dirty socks odor at the gate with the APU running and during tax...

Narrative:

[We] had an unidentified odor of an acrid chemical nature that circulated throughout the cabin when the flight was boarding. At this point; the odor was not extremely intense; and the flight attendants; in retrospect; probably misidentified the odor as the body odor of a man sitting in first class; which they described to me as the absolute worst they have ever smelled in their lives. This was a passenger on the inbound flight; and the flight attendants presumed the odor was still lingering. I wasn't so sure that could be so; but deferred to their judgment and anticipated that it would surely eventually dissipate; especially after running the air conditioning packs for a while; away from the gate; and on engine bleed. After only a brief period of taxi; however; the odor did not dissipate; but became stronger; and I got a call from the flight attendants; who were alarmed at the increased intensity of the odor; and complained of symptoms; including headaches; throat irritation and light headedness. The first officer also indicated to me symptoms of throat irritation. I returned to the gate; and had the passengers and crew deplaned. I stayed on the aircraft only long enough to take care of duties relating to securing the aircraft; contacting station operations; retrieving paperwork; etc. I was last off the airplane; and did some remaining paperwork on the jetway. I myself had slight throat irritation and mild headache symptoms. All crew members went to the hospital for tests. The company needs to develop a checklist for crew members; detailing how to deal with this kind of event. A plan needs to be in place to take care of the crew members; and station personnel need to be able to implement it immediately. We were delayed in getting to the hospital by; I can't remember; but it was more than an hour and maybe less than 2 hours; because no company person (chief pilot; dispatcher; systems crew scheduling; station manager; etc.) could tell us promptly and decisively what to do. Fortunately (in a way) the first officer had known someone who had a serious exposure over a year ago; and was able to contact this person to get some guidance. The remaining guidance came from sources at the union. By the time we all left the hospital (we were all oxygenated for two to three hours); we felt improvement and very limited intensities of the symptoms we originally reported. We all hope that this exposure had only limited effects; that is; limited to the symptoms that occurred during and immediately after the exposure. However; because of the unknowns; many of us have some anxiety. I know of one of the flight attendants; who; having felt better upon leaving the hospital; later that night suffered a severe headache and nausea; that persisted for a couple of hours. Without knowing what the source of the odor/fumes was; I don't have a suggestion for future prevention. But I would definitely like to be contacted when maintenance has determined a source/cause of this event.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An A319 Flight Attendant detected a dirty socks odor at the gate with the APU running and during taxi all three flight attendants reported headaches so after notifying the Captain; who also detected it; the aircraft returned to the gate. The crew sought medical attention.

Narrative: [We] had an unidentified odor of an acrid chemical nature that circulated throughout the cabin when the flight was boarding. At this point; the odor was not extremely intense; and the flight attendants; in retrospect; probably misidentified the odor as the body odor of a man sitting in First Class; which they described to me as the absolute worst they have ever smelled in their lives. This was a passenger on the inbound flight; and the flight attendants presumed the odor was still lingering. I wasn't so sure that could be so; but deferred to their judgment and anticipated that it would surely eventually dissipate; especially after running the air conditioning packs for a while; away from the gate; and on engine bleed. After only a brief period of taxi; however; the odor did not dissipate; but became stronger; and I got a call from the flight attendants; who were alarmed at the increased intensity of the odor; and complained of symptoms; including headaches; throat irritation and light headedness. The First Officer also indicated to me symptoms of throat irritation. I returned to the gate; and had the passengers and crew deplaned. I stayed on the aircraft only long enough to take care of duties relating to securing the aircraft; contacting station operations; retrieving paperwork; etc. I was last off the airplane; and did some remaining paperwork on the jetway. I myself had slight throat irritation and mild headache symptoms. All crew members went to the hospital for tests. The company needs to develop a checklist for crew members; detailing how to deal with this kind of event. A plan needs to be in place to take care of the crew members; and station personnel need to be able to implement it immediately. We were delayed in getting to the hospital by; I can't remember; but it was more than an hour and maybe less than 2 hours; because no company person (Chief Pilot; Dispatcher; Systems Crew Scheduling; Station Manager; etc.) could tell us promptly and decisively what to do. Fortunately (in a way) the First Officer had known someone who had a serious exposure over a year ago; and was able to contact this person to get some guidance. The remaining guidance came from sources at the Union. By the time we all left the hospital (we were all oxygenated for two to three hours); we felt improvement and very limited intensities of the symptoms we originally reported. We all hope that this exposure had only limited effects; that is; limited to the symptoms that occurred during and immediately after the exposure. However; because of the unknowns; many of us have some anxiety. I know of one of the flight attendants; who; having felt better upon leaving the hospital; later that night suffered a severe headache and nausea; that persisted for a couple of hours. Without knowing what the source of the odor/fumes was; I don't have a suggestion for future prevention. But I would definitely like to be contacted when Maintenance has determined a source/cause of this event.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1082721
Time
Date	201304
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Dusk
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	A319
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Parked Taxi
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Air Conditioning Distribution System
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Person 2
Function	Flight Attendant (On Duty)
Qualification	Flight Attendant Current
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Smoke / Fire / Fumes / Odor

An A319 flight attendant detected a dirty socks odor at the gate with the APU running and during taxi all three flight attendants reported headaches so after notifying the captain; who also detected it; the aircraft returned to the gate. The crew sought medical attention.