Cargo Fires
Just wanted to get some feedback on what policies or opinions you might have concerning Cargo Fires. For the sake of this discussion I am assuming that your aircraft is fitted with cargo fire extinguihers.
On the Boeing it is said that an uncontrollable cargo fire will burn through the hull in 20 mins. Obviously the target would then seem to be to land within the 20 minute timescale. However for anyone who has flown transatlantic or transpacific knows this is often impossible. What then do you reckon you should do if landing within this 20 minute timescale is not possible ?
Here might be some of the conflicting viewpoints.
- If a long distance from nearest airport you have got to assume that the fire extinguishers will deal with the fire. By assuming this you can stay high and therefore with the hopefully higher winds and TAS aloft you can proceed to your destination in the shortest possible time.
- If you have a cargo fire you have to assume the worst i.e. that the fire will burn through within 20 mins. Therefore you should descend and if you are not going to make it to an airport within 20 mins. you should make preparations to ditch. After all you might have some of surviving a ditching but none if the aircraft fails structurally at 35,000 feet.
Which side do you come down on ?
Following on from this do you really think the cargo fire warning systems fitted to many aircraft are sufficient. The ones fitted to Boeings are usually photoelectric cells. But these are not going to tell you if the fire has been extinguished. Added to this they have been known to give false alarms at times. Does any aircraft out there have cameras fitted for the cargo compartments ? After all it would certainly be an invaluable source of information in the above scenario.