413 private links
Certification standards require that airliner manufacturers demonstrate their designs are capable of evacuating all passengers within 90 seconds using half the available exits. Bjorn Fehrm, an aeronautical engineer, told the Financial Times, “The most important part, whether the plane is aluminum or carbon fiber, is that you have protection for many, many minutes from external heat. In this case, the carbon fiber is giving that heat-shield protection.”
Even though carbon fiber will burn at lower temperatures than the 600 degrees Celsius of aluminum, Emile Greenhalgh, a professor of composite materials at London’s Imperial College, said the composite material reacts differently to fire. “As the material burns,” he said, “all the flammable material forms a char layer, so you end up with a barrier against the progression of fire.” //
William Bellinger
January 5, 2024 At 8:58 am
The regulations require the plane has to be evacuated in 90 seconds for certification. I understand the actual evacuation took much , much longer. //
william Lawson
January 5, 2024 At 9:14 am
we must remember that faa evacuations tests are done with healthy, trained, in shape people not the average passenger load with children, old people, over weight out of shape passengers.
if they did the tests with a normal group of passengers they would need to make the aisles wider more room in the seats etc. //
niio
January 6, 2024 At 6:47 am
While the ‘passengers’ in the test must be of ‘normal health’ (no disability that would compromise the test), they are not trained and cannot have been a participant in any previous test within six months. A third of them must be over 50 and 40pct must be female. Three infant sized dolls are included. No one who maintains or operates the aircraft may participate. //
bushwc@hotmail.com
January 6, 2024 At 11:41 am
I read that the flight attendants waited for the pilots to give the ok to open the doors. Back in the 70’s and 80’s I traveled to 59 countries and 48 states, many more than once. I always knew where the exits were and how to open them. I certainly wouldn’t have waited on the ok from the flight crew if there is fire all around the aircraft. I would have found an exit with the least amount of fire, opened the door and gotten out. You can’t depend on the flight crew. They could easily be incapacitated by injuries leaving you on your own to survive. Pay attention to the safety briefing and read the safety card carefully. The life you safe could be your own. //
Uniform Golf
January 5, 2024 At 11:44 am
A few thoughts:
...
JAL’s safety videos stand out for their focus on serious instructions such as evacuations, luggage procedures, and slide usage:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BDIGt8MOD8
3) Yes, composites seem to burn differently. Some of the videos suggest that the firefighters were on scene with the fire largely out on the exterior, with flames in the interior in the aft of the cabin. Between that video and the photo the morning after, it appears that the fire completely consumed the aircraft leaving little of the fuselage. The following article resurrects an article from 2009 about combatting composite airplane fires and discusses findings on the difference of composite aircraft fire fighting demands, toxic smoke and remains, and cleanup considerations:
https://leehamnews.com/2024/01/02/jal-a350-ground-collision-is-first-hull-loss-by-damage-and-fire-of-an-all-composite-airplane/