Smoke in cabin
Hello;
As an ARFF Fire Officer, I recently responded to an inflight emergency where the pilot of a B-727 reported an odour of burnt material. The plane landed safely. The detection of the source of the problem was lengthy but we discovered that a passenger reading plastic light cover had been glued by an airline mechanic on a previous flight. This type of plastic light covers are usually threaded. In this particular occasion it had been glued and under heat, it melted and released fumes.
I would like to ask you about your investigation techniques in relation to finding the origin of smoke (and or suspicious smell) inside the cabin ? Is it a common occurence ? Do you have a lot of burnt ballast for example ? In the case of flight SR111 the fire was located behind the ceiling pannel in the cockpit. How do you access easily the areas located behind these pannels ?
Any info would be greatly appreciated.