FAA Researching Firefighting Requirements for New Large Aircraft

New large aircraft pose serious challenges to airport firefighting, rescue capabilities

The FAA is investigating how the combination of super large-size jet transports with multiple decks, massive fuel loads and composite airframes will affect the ability of airport firefighters to extinguish flames and rescue passengers.

The agency’s current procedures do not address these and other considerations, necessitating a fresh look at what will be required for airport firefighting teams in terms of technologies and strategies to respond effectively to a post-crash conflagration.

Transports such as the Airbus A380 and Boeing 747-8I/8F qualify for the FAA’s Design Group 6 known as New Large Aircraft (NLA). These jets are capable of carrying more than 450 passengers and up to 80,000 gal. of jet fuel, and also feature multiple deck levels, larger fuselage surface areas, a higher tail and extensive use of composite materials in their airframes. The A380 has entered scheduled service with Singapore Airlines, and the 747-8I is scheduled for delivery to Lufthansa late in 2010.

“The FAA is looking closely at four primary areas—how much agent [firefighting foam] is required, challenges to firefighting crews posed by the size of NLAs, developing strategies to fight fires, and development of specialized vehicles,” says Jim Patterson, airport safety specialist at the agency’s William J. Hughes Technical Center here. He says a majority of large U.S. airports are “over-indexed” regarding Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting (ARFF) equipment and capabilities and exceed the FAA’s minimum requirements, but none of these facilities are prepared for NLAs. “We are in dialogue with fire chiefs at airports where the A380 and 747-8I/8F will be operating regularly” and they are asking lots of questions,” Patterson says.

To more accurately assess NLAs, the agency is partnering with the Air Force Research Lab at Tyndall AFB in Panama City Beach, Fla., and the University of Florida.

In further support of the program, SRA International is researching agent quantities, firefighting strategies, specialized vehicles and how to fight composite fires. Hughes Associates is conducting historical research into how much foam has been used in past fires. Airbus and Boeing are also supporting the FAA’s work, says Patterson.

Current FAA requirements governing ARFF capabilities at major airports where NLAs will be operating are being reviewed to determine if training, foam and equipment are adequate to combat post-crash fires in these airplanes, according to Patterson.

To address these key issues, the FAA has built a full-scale, accurate mockup of an A380 fuselage section representing the area forward of the wing root. A wing stub—with one engine attached—is included. The fuselage features two passenger levels and a lower cargo deck, three evacuation slides (made of metal), and three replaceable panels to allow firefighting booms with extendable turrets to pierce and penetrate the upper decks to distribute foam.

A full-scale mockup of an A380 forward fuselage has been built at Tyndall AFB, Fla., to be used by the FAA to investigate post-crash fire procedures in New Large Aircraft. Credit: LAURIE ZALESKI/ART-Z GRAPHICS

In addition, the FAA is concerned that existing ARFF vehicles will not be able to reach or penetrate the upper passenger decks of NLAs to inject foam. Patterson says the goal is to develop vehicles with the ability to adequately attack upper decks with foam and insert firefighters to evacuate trapped passengers if slides fail to operate. The A380 mockup has been equipped with “dry slides” to facilitate testing, and the FAA has placed a Request for Information on the Internet to solicit concepts and demonstrate potential new technologies for use against fires in the fuselage section.

The mockup is installed in a special fire pit 100 ft. in diameter that can be filled with up to 1,000 gal. of jet fuel for ignition. “The mockup will help us find answers to what tools, strategies and agents will be needed to extinguish fires involving NLAs,” Patterson asserts.

To determine how much foam would be required, research is focusing on development of new methodologies used to calculate quantities, discharge rates per minute, fuselage geometry and fuel tank locations. Initial work has been done on the A380, and the Boeing 777 and 787 to help understand how flames travel over, around and across the airframe. The mockup has been set ablaze using 250-, 750- and 1,000-gal. increments of fuel to help calibrate computational models.

“Our current formulas for agent quantities do not account for the size of NLAs and the agency needs to know how much additional foam will be required,” Patterson says. “We are doing extensive research to figure out what that factor is.” He is optimistic that preliminary results will be available by the end of this year.

The research also is addressing how to capture the physical dimensions of NLAs, including the size of second level passenger decks, length of evacuation slides and the longer wheel base as well as determining how these characteristics should be integrated into existing equations. In addition, the FAA needs to develop new strategies to train ARFF personnel in fighting fires aboard NLAs, especially how best to deal with burning composite materials. “There is no great concern” about composites but “we need to look closer at that issue,” Patterson admits.

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Fonte: Flight Safety Information 25/06/2008