DAVID LEARMOUNT / LONDON
Inquiry into 1998 Swissair 111 MD-11 crash focuses efforts to rejig fire-detection procedures
A Virgin Atlantic Airbus A340 flew from London Heathrow to Dublin, Ireland, on 24 April for airborne assessment of a thermal imaging camera (TIC) developed by Marconi Applied Technologies to enable crew to locate hidden fires.
The trials follow the Transportation Safety Board of Canada's (TSBC's) December 2000 recommendations based on evidence from the Swissair 111 Boeing MD-11 crash that better ways must be found of locating and suppressing fuselage fires hidden behind panels, in lockers or below the floor.
Several other international airlines including Qantas are watching the assessments initiated by UK airports operator BAA, whose Airport Fire Service reviewed fire-detection procedures and equipment following the TSBC recommendations. The trials are being monitored by the UK Civil Aviation Authority Safety Regulation Group, which has told Marconi certification is not required because the equipment poses no risk.
Procedures for detecting hidden fuselage fires direct crew to feel panels with their hands, but airport fire-crews use TICs to locate hidden heat sources.
The Virgin trial flight used Marconi's Argus 2 TIC equipment, which it says costs about $10,000 a unit, to find heat pads placed behind panels or within lockers.
CAA research indicates that between January 2000 and March 2001, UK-registered aircraft suffered 102 flightdeck fires, 53 in the cabin, 42 in galley equipment, eight in in-flight entertainment systems, seven cargo blazes and four toilet fires.
Source: Flight International
