This study examines the main problems associated with passenger survival and evacuation in
survivable aircraft fire situations under current regulatory safety requirements and assesses
current and alternative strategies to combat cabin fire, and assist evacuation, with a view to
identifying a best alternative strategy. The technical and management findings associated with
a research programme which was conducted into passenger smoke hood protection are then
described.
The survival/evacuation/pathology aspects associated with 10 selected accidents to public
transport aircraft which involved fire are reviewed at the outset of this study in order to set
forth the attendant problems of survival in such situations. The pathology and toxicological
findings associated with these accidents are then discussed. The assembled information is then
analysed with a view towards identifying the key problems inherent in survival and evacuation
from aircraft fires, including those which stem from survivable in-flight fires.
The current regulatory requirements and associated strategies relating to occupant
survival/evacuation are then critically reviewed against the key problems identified.
A review of alternative strategies is then conducted and an assessment made of technical
potential, related cost-benefit data, problems still to be resolved and possible timescales for
implementation. A'best-strategy'is then selected.
The potential benefits of this strategy are then set forth in terms of its relevance to the
survival/evacuation problems identified, associated cost-effectiveness, potential synergy with
existing, and possible future, requirements and implementation timescale.
A review of data on aircraft fires is then conducted, including that associated with the
thermochemical characteristics of such combustion atmospheres and related effects on animals
and humans. Using this data, the approach used to develop a set of acceptance criteria for
aircraft passenger smoke hood designs is described. In addition, the way in which a challenge
combustion atmosphere model was developed, and against which filter-type smoke hoods
could be tested, is described. The organisation and implementation of a research programme to
evaluate the performance capability of a range of breathable-gas and filter-type smoke hoods is
then described in terms of the technical and management aspects, and the results set forth-
Finally, the results of the study are analysed from both a technical and management perspective
and appropriate conclusions and recommendations presented.Sponsorship - AAIB - Air Accidents Investigation Branch of the Department of Transport