Enhanced Emergency Smoke Venting
Abstract
This study evaluated two concepts for modifying the air conditioning systems of large commercial airplanes to enhance the venting of smoke that may be continuously injected into the passenger cabin during inflight fire emergencies. Data from past fire accidents and airplane tests provided a basis for creating four fire/smoke scenarios and deriving five sets of equations to predict the smoke venting effectiveness of current airplanes and the proposed concepts. Concept A would modify the air conditioning packs by adding high flow modes with dual outflow valves and Concept B would add ram air ventilation with an added dump valve. The estimated costs to incorporate Concept A or B in the U. S. fleet were about $381 million or $587 million, respectively. The effectiveness equations predicted that both concepts would provide only slightly significant smoke venting enhancement. Furthermore, the study showed that both concepts would have been negated by the reported crew actions and/or fire damage in past fires. It was concluded that current U.S. fleet airplanes will provide a majority of the passenger cabin free of smoke during inflight fires while the air conditioning systems are kept operating. Keywords: Air conditioning, Airplanes, Emergency, Inflight fire, Passenger cabins, Smoke, Smoke venting.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 01, 1988
- Accession Number
- ADA197693
Entities
People
- Elliott L. Maylor
Organizations
- Federal Aviation Administration