An analysis of factors impeding passenger escape from aircraft fires

The aviation world has long recognised that fires in aircraft are potentially very dangerous, being the cause of considerable mortality and morbidity even in otherwise survivable accidents. The evidence accumulated in the British Airtours Boeing 737 accident at Manchester International Airport on 22 August 1985, and the information acquired as a result of this investigation, reinforce the long held view that protection for passengers is needed. Heat, smoke, and toxic fumes can incapacitate people very rapidly. The time it took for people to die cannot be accurately assessed, but it is likely that all died within 4.5 min of the emergency being declared and probably within 2 min of smoke and flames entering the fuselage. Thus, it is obvious that new measures will have to be taken if lives are to be saved in future events of this nature.