Interesting read, and got me thinking about the Class E cargo compartment. Except from closing the door, what means are there to exclude smoke from the flight deck? In this particular incident it seems the smoke brought the aircraft down, made the crew unable to operate the aircraft to landing.
Class E Cargo Compartment: A Class E cargo compartment is one on airplanes used only for the carriage of cargo and in which:
i. There is a separate approved smoke or fire detector system to give warning at the pilot or flight engineer station;
ii. There are means to shut off the ventilating airflow to, or within, the compartment, and the controls for these means are accessible to the flight crew in the crew compartment;
iii. There are means to exclude hazardous quantities of smoke, flames, or noxious gases, from the flight crew compartment
iv. The required crew emergency exits are accessible under any cargo loading condition.
I am also thinking of this NPA (
http://www.easa.europa.eu/ws_prod/r/...%202008-10.pdf) concerning the safety off Class B compartments, similar to Class E doesn't require fire suppression system and too big for efficient use of hand held extinguishers.