Narrative:

I have flown the emb-170/175 for over 2;000 hours and rarely experienced smelling; exhaust like fumes. The emb-190; however; has a more noticeable smell of burnt oil; or exhaust fumes. We began noticing it during taxi on our 3rd or 4th leg of a 6 leg day when the APU and left engine were running during prolonged single engine taxi. I suspect it is a ventilation problem; allowing either burnt or burning oil fumes or engine exhaust to enter into the cockpit/passenger cabin ventilation system. At first we thought it was jet exhaust from the plane in front of us; so we tried to keep at least 35 feet away; but it did help because we began to smell it at the gate after APU start then it went away until the left engine started; and we would get a large blast of the fumes. The weird thing about it is that was not a very noticeable smell; until the second to last leg. It was really bad on the 5th leg; and the crew began to notice symptoms that we all shared and did not have on prior days of the trip. I experienced headaches; my eyes were red and burning; and at least my nose was unusually dryer than normal. I was tasting blood in the back of my throat after the 5th leg was completed. The symptoms lasted for 2 days. I have smelled this before on other 190's but it was temporary and only lasted a few minutes after APU start. Physical alarm bells; plus the cabin crew alerted us to what they were feeling. We noticed our thought process was beginning to slow down and really hard to concentrate. We also noticed it was hard to concentrate on our task especially during high task loading. We kept catching each other making mistakes with mcdu usage that we did not make before especially on the shuttle flights where you notice anything out of routine. I have been on the airplane for 2 months; and I have experienced eye lid twitching; and hand shaking. Also I have experienced cramping in the frontal lobe region of the brain; as best as I can describe it that day and the day after. Maintenance is trying to find the cause of the problem. I recommend installing those stickers in the cockpit that turn color when chemical; carbon monoxide; etc. Is detected; or have some type of portable air quality sensor in every cockpit to alert the flight crew of odorless; and identifiable odors before they become a health and safety hazard.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An E-190 First Officer reported that this model Embraer is uniquely susceptible to ingestion of exhaust fumes from the APU and/or its own turbine exhaust great enough to produce negative physiological symptoms among the flight crew. Reported symptoms included respiratory distress; loss of concentration and reduced mental acuity.

Narrative: I have flown the EMB-170/175 for over 2;000 hours and rarely experienced smelling; exhaust like fumes. The EMB-190; however; has a more noticeable smell of burnt oil; or exhaust fumes. We began noticing it during taxi on our 3rd or 4th leg of a 6 leg day when the APU and left engine were running during prolonged single engine taxi. I suspect it is a ventilation problem; allowing either burnt or burning oil fumes or engine exhaust to enter into the cockpit/passenger cabin ventilation system. At first we thought it was jet exhaust from the plane in front of us; so we tried to keep at least 35 feet away; but it did help because we began to smell it at the gate after APU start then it went away until the left engine started; and we would get a large blast of the fumes. The weird thing about it is that was not a very noticeable smell; until the second to last leg. It was really bad on the 5th leg; and the crew began to notice symptoms that we all shared and did not have on prior days of the trip. I experienced headaches; my eyes were red and burning; and at least my nose was unusually dryer than normal. I was tasting blood in the back of my throat after the 5th leg was completed. The symptoms lasted for 2 days. I have smelled this before on other 190's but it was temporary and only lasted a few minutes after APU start. Physical alarm bells; plus the cabin crew alerted us to what they were feeling. We noticed our thought process was beginning to slow down and really hard to concentrate. We also noticed it was hard to concentrate on our task especially during high task loading. We kept catching each other making mistakes with MCDU usage that we did not make before especially on the shuttle flights where you notice anything out of routine. I have been on the airplane for 2 months; and I have experienced eye lid twitching; and hand shaking. Also I have experienced cramping in the frontal lobe region of the brain; as best as I can describe it that day and the day after. Maintenance is trying to find the cause of the problem. I recommend installing those stickers in the cockpit that turn color when chemical; carbon monoxide; etc. is detected; or have some type of portable air quality sensor in every cockpit to alert the flight crew of odorless; and identifiable odors before they become a health and safety hazard.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.