Flying: Clearing the Upper Air

It is a common experience. The plane levels and the NO SMOKING sign flicks off with a gentle ding. Simultaneously an entire section of nervous flyers light up. The cloud of smoke drifts around the cabin and is then circulated again and again through the ventilation system. Last week the National Research Council offered the nonsmoking majority some relief. After an 18- month study for the Federal Aviation Administration, the council recommended a federal ban on smoking on all domestic airline flights. The report offered no solid proof that smoke in airplane cabins is a genuine health hazard to nonsmokers, but it did conclude that the smoke causes watery eyes, headaches and other discomforts that make it a source of complaints aboard planes. No- smoking sections solve nothing, the researchers said, since fresh-air circulation in many crowded airline cabins is already at a minimal level even without the addition of cigarette smoke. The problem is likely to get worse as the airlines purchase new fleets of smaller, more fuel-efficient airplanes that recirculate as much as 50% of the cabin air.

The Tobacco Institute attacked the report, saying it was "purely political." But Continental Airlines used the federal report to launch its own no-smoking program, announcing that smokers who agree to keep their pack in their pocket would qualify for a 10% discount on their next flight. The 30- day experimental program was to begin Aug. 25.