Aircraft Rescue & Fire Fighting

Global Leaders in Aircraft Fire Fighting Research

 

Aircraft fires are especially challenging and dangerous for several reasons. They often occur in tough-to-access areas such as aircraft engines and cargo holds, and they typically involve spilled jet fuel and a variety of other material hazards.

 

The FAA prepares our nation’s airports for aircraft fires under ATR’s Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting (ARFF) Program.  This program promotes a safer national aerospace system by vetting the tools, techniques, and training to save passenger and crew lives and protect rescuers.

 

Thanks to an evolving, world-class ARFF Research Facility and a fleet of versatile test vehicles, ATR has the leading edge in discovering and testing new firefighting methodologies. At the ARFF Research Facility in Atlantic City, NJ, FAA researchers create interior, exterior, and cargo fires, analyzing and extinguishing them using a variety of specialized vehicles and test equipment. The heart of the ARFF Research Facility is a custom-built ARFF Test Laboratory that allows FAA researchers to evaluate firefighting techniques and products in a controlled, repeatable, and environmentally friendly way.

 

360°

The ARFF Research Facility includes an L1011 wide-body aircraft. The aircraft has multiple fire-hardened test chambers used to simulate onboard firefighting scenarios. The fire-hardened test chambers allow researchers to assess safety considerations and test and evaluate firefighting tactics and strategies in an actual aircraft environment. Research has been conducted using a high-reach extendable turret (HRET) with Aircraft Skin Penetrating Nozzle (ASPN) to pierce the fuselage of a plane for fire extinguishment. Both test chambers in the aircraft feature at least 1 ASPN used to discharge agent into the chamber. The test aircraft also facilitates the assessment of victim survivability during post-crash firefighting tasks.

 

The ARFF Program conducts fire tests and studies to:

• Gather data on equipment and fire agent performance
• Investigate and inform the ways today’s aircraft characteristics (e.g., passenger loads, fuel stores, composite materials, unique space configurations) affect incident preparedness
• Assess ARFF tools and tactics for industry best practice
• Develop guidance that reduces the risk associated with fire rescue events

 

 

 

 

 

Fire studies conducted at the ARFF Research Facility complement in-flight survival research performed nearby at the FAA’s Fire Safety Branch.  FAA also partners with the U.S. Air Force to conduct large-scale fire tests at Tyndall Air Force Base near Panama City, Fla.    

 

Learn More

 

ARFF Vehicle Research

• Test and Evaluation of Next Generation 65-Foot, High-Reach Extendable Turret
• Test and Evaluation of Rear-Wheel Steering for Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting Vehicles
• Test and Evaluation of Rear-Wheel Steering for Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting Vehicles—Part 2
• Evaluation of Retrofit ARFF Vehicle Suspension Enhancement to Reduce Vehicle Rollovers

 

Cargo Fires Research

• Weight and Balance Behavior of a Freighter Aircraft During Cargo Fire Test Evaluations
• Full-Scale Evaluation of ARFF Tactics for Cargo Fires on Freighter Aircraft

 

Composite Fires Research

• Characterization of the Flammability and Thermal Decomposition Properties of Aircraft Skin Composite Materials and Combustible Surrogates
• Comparative Evaluation of Rescue Saw Blades for Forcible Entry Into Advanced Composite Material Aircraft
• Development of an Intermediate-Scale Test Method for Evaluating the Effectiveness of Firefighting Agents to Suppress Aircraft Skin Composite Fires

 

Fire-Extinguishing Agent Research

• Development of a Firefighting Agent Application Test Protocol for Aircraft Fuselage Composites, Phase I—Carbon Fiber
• Development of a Firefighting Agent Application Test Protocol for Aircraft Fuselage Composites, Phase I—GLARE
• Evaluation of New Liquid Fire-Extinguishing Agent for Combustible Metal Fires
• Experimental Flow Characterization and Computational Model Development of Aqueous Film Forming Foam Firefighting Jets
• Full-Scale Evaluation of Novec™ 1230

 

New Large Aircraft Research

• Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting Strategies and Tactical Considerations for New Large Aircraft

 

Additional Reports

• Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting Training Fuel Comparative Evaluation
• Crash Simulation of Transport Aircraft for Predicting Fuel Release First Phase—Simulation of the Lockheed Constellation Model L-1649 Full-Scale Crash Test
• Development of Prototype Nozzles for Freighter Aircraft Fire Applications
• Impact of Alternative Fuels Present in Airports on Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting Response – Literature Review
• Thermal Imaging for Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting Applications