Specialized Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting Vehicles
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Airport Technology R&D Branch�s
Operation of New Large Aircraft (NLA) Research Program is evaluating specialized
Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting (ARFF) vehicles and equipment that are capable
of performing multiple tasks at an aircraft incident. ARFF personnel are
required to provide a wide variety of services during both life-threatening and
non life-threatening aircraft emergencies. The severity of an aircraft incidents
can vary widely from running off the runway to a crash landing involving fire.
Aircraft do not always land on level surfaces or orient themselves so that all
the emergency exits are usable or easily accessed. Weather can also hinder the
use of slides, especially in windy conditions. Other factors, such as
malfunction and fire, can render emergency slides unusable. A study conducted by
the National Transportation Safety Board from 1997 to 1999, reported that 37% of
emergency slides involved in evacuations were not functional during the aircraft
incident. The majority of injuries reported as a result of emergency evacuations
occurred when passengers had to jump from an exit or off the wing because no
evacuation slide was available. Traditional ground ladders used for accessing
aircraft can be dangerous to climb, extremely difficult to secure to the
airplane, require multiple firefighters to setup and do not always reach the
desired aircraft exit. Some airports have structural ladder trucks, sky lifts or
air stairs, but these vehicles take time to deploy and were not manufactured for
intended ARFF operations. The introduction of NLA presents additional challenges
to ARFF personnel. The Airbus A380 was certified to carry up to 873 passenger
and crew, with the upper deck exit door over 26 feet off the ground.
Photo Courtesy of Marcus Weigand
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Photo Courtesy of Jerry Yau |
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Traditionally, ARFF personnel were tasked with providing a safe escape route
free of fire while passengers self-evacuated. However, ARFF personnel have been
required to assist passengers during the evacuation process if slides do not
deploy or are unusable, make rapid entry into an aircraft fuselage to rescue
injured or incapacitated passengers that can not self-evacuate, in addition to
extinguishing interior fires. Several airports are now acquiring mobile air
stairs and modifying them for ARFF use with hand lines, ventilation equipment
and fire fighting tools. Some European airports have even acquired customized
platform vehicles for rapid firefighter access into aircraft. Ideas being
discussed are various air stair designs, scissor lift catering style trucks and
modified ARFF vehicles with stairs or ladder that will accommodate all sizes of
aircraft, including double deck designs. Some manufactures are willing to
construct a specialized platform type vehicle, but lack performance requirements
and standards set forth by the FAA before they will commit toward the
engineering and manufacturing process of constructing a vehicle.
The FAA has already started research in this area including evaluations of a new
65 foot High Reach Extendable Turrets (HRET) capable of reaching the upper
passenger decks of NLA and air stairs equipped with fire fighting capabilities
(see Interior Intervention Vehicle Research). In addition to these projects, the
FAA is also interested in the following areas:
- Equipment and tools needed on specialized platform type vehicles for
assisting ARFF services during the evacuation process and firefighter access
inside aircraft.
- Methodologies to assist during passenger evacuation and enabling
firefighters to gain access inside aircraft.
- Specialized platform type vehicle requirements for ARFF services to assist
during the aircraft passenger evacuation process and enable firefighters to
access inside aircraft of NLA and double-deck aircraft.
- Other uses and benefits that an ARFF service specialized platform type
vehicle type can be utilized at an airport.
Mr. Jim Patterson FAA Technical Center Operation of NLA Research Program AAR-411, Bldg. 296 Atlantic City International Airport New Jersey, 08405
Contact Project Lead: Jim Patterson,
ATO-P (formerly AAR-411)
Last Update:03/16/09
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