- Author
-
Geyer, G. B.
|
Neri, L. M.
|
Urban, C. H.
- Title
- Advanced Concept in Aircraft Crash Firefighting Using Carbon Tetrafluoride. Final Report. October 1977-July 1979.
- Coporate
- Federal Aviation Admin., Atlantic City, NJ
- Sponsor
- Engineering And Services Center, Tyndall AFB, Fl
Department of Transportation, Washington, DC
- Report
-
FAA-NA-79-43; ESL-TR-79-40,
March 1980,
108 p.
- Distribution
- Available from National Technical Information Service
- Contract
- D7C-8-114
- Keywords
-
aircraft accidents
|
carbon tetrafluoride
|
fire fighting
|
cabin atmospheres
|
aircraft compartments
|
visibility
|
inert atmosphere
- Identifiers
- aircraft
- Abstract
- The feasibility of replacing a potentially lethal aircraft cabin environment with a cool habitable atmosphere which is nonsupportive of combustion during passenger evacuation in fire emergencies was investigated. Carbon tetrafluoride (CF4) was chosen as the fire extinguishant because of its very low toxicity and high molecular stability under thermal insult. Four large-scale experiments were performed in a completely instrumented cabin of a DC7 aircraft employing both Class A and B combustible materials. Three experiments were performed using the habitable inert atmosphere (27 volume percent CF4) discharging at the rate of 3,300 cubic feet per minute into the aircraft cabin through a window exit. For comparative purposes, the fourth experiment was performed using neat CF4 discharged from to simulated points of fuselage penetration by a ballistically-powered aircraft skin penetrator nozzle. The CF4-air atmosphere was capable of extinguishing nonsurvivable Class A and B cabin fires within 125 seconds or less during which time the cabin temperature was rapidly reduced and visual acuity slowly improved vby smoke silution during the Class A fire tests. Fire extinguishant by means of neat CF4 at the same discharge rate required approximately twice as long, and visibility within the cabin did not improve during the duration of the experiment.