This presentation affects us all as air travel passengers. It questions lessons we should learn from a ferocious Jan.2024 A350 aircraft fire in Japan. A fire which burned for 6 hours, seemingly unable to be extinguished. Miraculously all 379 people on-board narrowly escaped to safety, before the plane was destroyed. Tragically 5 of the 6 people on the smaller aircraft involved in the collision died instantly, but it could have been a catastrophic disaster.
This major fire highlights existing fire test standards may not be fit for purpose, as composite materials are proving difficult to extinguish and hotter summers reduce firefighting foam’s effectiveness. This seems to justify a review and overhaul of current ICAO and new MilSpec fire tests is required, to better protect lives of passengers, crew and firefighters from these more complex challenges being faced in future.
