Interior Intervention Vehicle
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Aircraft Rescue & Fire Fighting
(ARFF) Research Program has been studying the feasibility and demand of a
new concept vehicle called an Interior Intervention Vehicle (IIV) for rapid
access to aircraft doorways for the ARFF industry. The primary function of
this new concept IIV is to aid fire fighters in making a safe and rapid
entry into an aircraft fuselage, as well as assist in the egress of
passengers, while adding a fire fighting capability.
Between September 1997 and June 1999, the National Transportation Safety
Board (NTSB) investigated 46 emergency evacuations and found that an
emergency evacuation was occurring every 11 days on average. Evacuation
slides on aircraft can fail to deploy or be rendered useless by wind, fire
or orientation of the aircraft. There are several circumstances where
airport fire fighters could intervene and assist during emergency
evacuations, especially when a fire is involved which can be dangerous to
both the passengers and first responders. Another NTSB study on aircraft
evacuations showed that firefighters were often required to simultaneously
extinguished aircraft fires while assist evacuating passengers. Fire
fighters only have minutes to respond to an aircraft fire before the
fuselage is compromised and the passengers are overcome by smoke and heat.
Passengers that survive the dynamics of a crash are typically victims of
post crash fire, inhalations of super heated toxic gases or smoke, or are
unable to self evacuate. The FAA Fire Safety Research Branch states
approximately 25%, or 288 of the 1153 fatalities on U.S. transport airlines
between 1981-1990 were caused by fire. Of the 288 fatalities, 40% can be
attributed to smoke and toxic combustion products of burning cabin materials
and jet fuel.
How effective can an IIV be in assisting emergency passenger evacuations?
The FAA ARFF Research Program has been researching just that. Using the
FAA’s Civil Aerospace Medical Institute evacuation simulation programs, the
ARFF Research Program studied how making closed exits available again using
an IIV could improve evacuation times, once emergency passenger evacuation
had begun. Results show during a total evacuation, an IIV could
significantly impact evacuation times, especially in double aisle aircraft.
Today’s aircraft come in a wide range of aircraft shapes, sizes, heights,
and passenger loads, increasing the requirement for a flexible operational
platform. Traditional ladder methods and structural ladder and sky lift
vehicles have shortcomings operating in an airport environment near
aircraft. Some innovative airport fire departments have taken the initiative
to acquire specialized custom vehicles for ARFF operations such as mobile
air stairs and scissor lift vehicles. While this type of equipment will work
in certain situations, it is still of limited benefit responding to larger
aircraft, such as the Boeing 747 or Airbus A380 with a second level
occupancy. Current passenger evacuation platforms have little or no fire
extinguishing capabilities. Some airport fire departments have plumbed a dry
standpipe system and attached hose reels into their air stair vehicles,
which allows for interior fire suppression inside the aircraft, but is still
limited by its need to be supplied water by another piece of fire apparatus.
The FAA ARFF Research Program is seeking recommendations on the design of a
platform vehicle that would be considered a dedicated ARFF vehicle and meet
the primary functions of aiding fire fighters in making a safe and rapid
entry into an aircraft fuselage, assist in the egress of passengers, while
having a self-contained fire extinguishing component. The National Fire
Protection Association has recognized the need of such a vehicle in their
newest 414 Standard for ARFF Vehicles, 2007 Ed. titled Interior Access
Vehicle. The FAA is interested in gathering ideas, comments, and suggestions
from fire departments, industry, aircraft manufacturers, government
agencies, and ARFF personnel. This information will be used to determine
design, operational, and performance criteria for such a vehicle, as well as
lead to development of a full scale fire test evaluation using the new FAA
double deck aircraft mockup at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida. We thank you
for your assistance!
Please submit all suggestions, comments, or responses in writing to:
Mr. Nick Subbotin
FAA Technical Center
ARFF Research Program
AAR-411, Bldg. 296
Atlantic City International Airport
New Jersey, 08405
Contact Project Lead: Nick
Subbotin,
ATO-P (formerly AAR-411)
Last Update:
04/17/07
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