Have personally had dense smoke on the flight deck twice....so thick I lost sight of the First Officer within about seven seconds.
This was in Boeing 707 equipment.
Mask and goggles on of course...and interphone worked fine.
In
both cases had a really helpful Flight Engineer, which made the job
much easier.
First case,
On departure at max weight, the smell of the smoke indicated cabin airconditioning...so the Flight Engineer switched off the turbocompressors
immediately, and the smoke disapated in about two minutes. By this time we were on two mile final for an overweight landing. Fuel dump was
not completed as I wanted to get the aeroplane
on the ground, ASAP.
When the fleet manager asked why, I indicated that...'that is what you pay me for...'
Expected an argument, but received none.
Case closed.
Second case,
electrical (odor) smoke over Danang at FL350, enroute BKK.
Masks and goggles as above.
The Flight Engineer was in the process of isolation when it got
really dense, so he switched off
all electrics (even the battery) and as we were daylight/clear of clouds, not a problem.
Turned out to be a seized radar cooling fan.
Faulty circuit isolated, flight continued to destination.
IF you have a problem, a properly trained Flight Engineer (not just a panel operator) is highly recommended.
More modern two crew cockpit are
supposed to be automated (enough) for the F/E to be eliminated.
Suspect the SR111 crew would have wished for one...
