Michele
This issue has been considered a number of times most recently by the House of Commons Evironment Transport and the Regions Select Committee who made the following recommendation :
(www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199899/cmselect/cmenvtra/275/27512.htm)
"(x) We recommend that the Safety Regulation Group should again conduct research into smokehoods, and the benefit which they might bring to evacuations of aircraft during fires. They should publish the results of their research within a limited timescale, and, unless there are compelling safety reasons why they should not be carried, the Safety Regulation Group should seek to make the provision of smokehoods on commercial aircraft a mandatory requirement (paragraph 86)."
The Government response was :
(www.aviation.detr.gov.uk/response/safety/index.htm)
"The Safety Regulation Group examined the potential benefits and problems of smokehoods fully after the investigation into the Manchester accident and issued a specification for developing a smokehood in 1998. These specifications were rigorous and were developed with the full participation not only of industry but also of independent experts. To the Safety Regulation Group’s knowledge, no satisfactory product was developed. The Safety Regulation Group subsequently undertook a review of aircraft fire safety, which included examination of the benefits and costs of a range of comprehensive safety improvements, including smokehoods. The conclusions were published in 1991.
The Safety Regulation Group is not convinced that more research into smokehoods can be any better justified than more research into rearward facing seats. Earlier research indicated that the delays in evacuation caused by untrained passengers trying to don smokehoods would cause a greater loss of life from fire than the number saved by reduced inhalation of toxic fumes.
The Safety Regulation Group is firmly of the view that its regulatory priorities should be to continue to research methods of reducing the level of penetration of fire into the cabin and slowing its subsequent spread, thus extending evacuation time, and to provide better exit routes."
[ 30 September 2001: Message edited by: Cathar ]