In aviation, an in-flight fire is a type of aviation accident where an aircraft catches on fire in-flight. They are considered one of the most dangerous hazards in aviation, with a report from the British Civil Aviation Authority showing that after a fire on an aircraft starts, flight crews only have on average 17 minutes to land their aircraft before it becomes uncontrollable.[1] Between 1981 and 1990, approximately 20% of all fatalities on US airlines were caused by in-flight fires.[2]
Electrical fires are often the result of rogue sparks or the overheating of electronic components. If there are flammable materials around the source of the fire, an electrical fire can quickly spread. Cockpit fires are often related to electrical fires as there many electrical components inside the cockpit that can produce sparks. If a cockpit fire is not extinguished in time, the smoke and fire on the control surfaces could make controlling the aircraft harder.
Fires in the cabin can be caused by items that the passengers bring on board, like personal electronic devices, lithium batteries, cigarettes, and can be exacerbated by improper waste management. Electrical fires can also occur the cabin area from wires that run through the cabin, like those for in-flight entertainment systems.[7]
Depending on what's inside the cargo hold of an aircraft, a cargo fire can quickly spread. For example, lithium batteries can undergo a process called thermal runaway, where the battery is able to serve as a source of heat, fuel, and an oxidizing agent.[8] [9] Other hazardous cargo include items that can serve as an oxidizing agent, like oxygen bottles and cleaning products.
Engines failures, mainly from loss of engine oil and uncontained engine failures, are the main cause of engine fires. In these scenarios, the excess heat produced could ignite the jet fuel or jet fuel vapors inside the engine.[10]
In cases where a fire burns for a sufficient time, an event called a flashover can occur. A flashover is the near simultaneous ignition of any combustible material within an enclosed area. As more flammable gasses are released when materials burn and the temperature rises, the autoignition temperature is eventually reached, causing the everything in the enclosed space to ignite.[11] Temperatures of flashovers can reach, making them unsurvivable for more than a few seconds.[12]
See also: Fire safety. Since 1985, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has mandated more fire-resistant materials to be used in aircraft to lengthen the amount of time until a flashover occurs.[13] A kerosene burner test for aircraft seats is used to validate their resistance to the type of fuel fire most commonly encountered; developments in fire-resistant foam and fire-blocking layers have adding 40 to 60 seconds of time for passengers to escape the aircraft. Since 1986, aircraft cargo compartments have been required to have more fire-resistant lining and in 1998, the compartments were to have fire detection and suppression systems.[14] Halon fire extinguishers, generally using Halon 1301, are used widely throughout the aviation industry because of their high performance to weight ratio.[15] Due to its ozone depleting nature, aviation fire-suppression systems are one of the last remain permitted uses of halon.[16]
| Event | Date | Aircraft | Site | Fatalities/Occupants | Type | Cause | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Swissair Flight 306 | 4 September 1963 | Sud Aviation SE-210 Caravelle III | Dürrenäsch, Aargau, Switzerland | 80/80 | Landing-gear fire | Overheated tires from excessive breaking | [17] |
| Mohawk Airlines Flight 40 | 23 June 1967 | BAC 1-11 204AF | Blossburg, Pennsylvania, United States | 34/34 | Tail section fire | Complete valve failure in APU spreading fire to the tail section | [18] |
| Interflug Flight 450 | 17 August 1972 | Ilyushin Il-62 | Königs Wusterhausen, Bezirk Potsdam, East Germany | 156/156 | Cargo fire | Hot-air tube leak | [19] |
| Varig Flight 820 | 11 July 1973 | Boeing 707-320C | Near Orly Airport, Île-de-France, France | 123/134 | Cabin fire | Undetermined, potential electrical fault or lit cigarette | |
| Pakistan International Airlines Flight 740 | 26 November 1979 | Boeing 707-340C | Near Taif, Mecca Province, Saudi Arabia | 156/156 | Cabin fire | Undermined, potential electrical fault or gasoline leak | |
| Saudia Flight 163 | 19 August 1980 | Lockheed L-1011-200 TriStar | Riyadh International Airport, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | 301/301 | Cargo Fire | Undetermined | [20] |
| Pilgrim Airlines Flight 458 | 21 February 1982 | de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter | Scituate Reservoir, Rhode Island, United States | 1/12 | Cockpit fire | Ignition of the windshield washer/deicer fluid, exact ignition source undetermined | [21] |
| Air Canada Flight 797 | 2 June 1983 | McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 | Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, Kentucky, United States | 23/46 | Cabin fire | Undetermined, potential electrical fault | [22] |
| Mexicana de Aviación Flight 940 | 31 March 1986 | Boeing 727-264 | Near Maravatío, Michoacán, Mexico | 167/167 | Landing-gear fire | Under-inflated and overheated tires being filled with air, chemical reaction | |
| LOT Polish Airlines Flight 5055 | 9 May 1987 | Ilyushin Il-62 | Kabaty Woods, Masovian Voivodeship, Poland | 183/183 | Engine fire | Disintegration of engine bearings from improper maintenance | |
| South African Airways Flight 295 | 28 November 1987 | Boeing 747-244BM Combi | Indian Ocean, 225 km NE of Flacq, Mauritius | 159/159 | Cargo fire | Disputed; undetermined (Official investigation), military fuel (alternate theories) | [23] [24] |
| Nigeria Airways Flight 2120 | 11 July 1991 | Douglas DC-8-61 | Near King Abdulaziz International Airport, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia | 261/261 | Landing-gear fire | Under-inflated and overheated tires bursting on takeoff | [25] |
| Zambia national football team plane crash | 27 April 1993 | de Havilland Canada DHC-5D Buffalo | Gulf of Guinea, near Akanda, Estuaire Province, Gabon | 30/30 | Engine fire | Engine defects, carbon contamination in gearbox | |
| Baikal Airlines Flight 130 | 3 January 1994 | Tupolev Tu-154M | Mamony, Irkutsk Oblast, Russia | 124/124 | Engine fire | Uncontained engine failure from foreign object damage | |
| ValuJet Flight 592 | 11 May 1996 | McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 | Everglades, Florida, United States | 110/110 | Cargo fire | Improperly packaged oxygen generators activating, excessive heat | [26] |
| FedEx Express Flight 1406 | 5 September 1996 | McDonnell Douglas DC-10 | Stewart International Airport, New York City, United States | 0/5 | Cargo fire | Undetermined | |
| Propair Flight 420 | 18 June 1998 | Fairchild Metroliner SA226 | Montréal–Mirabel International Airport, Quebec, Canada | 11/11 | Landing-gear fire | Overheated dragged tires | [27] |
| Swissair Flight 111 | 2 September 1998 | McDonnell Douglas MD-11 | 10 km SW of Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia, Canada | 229/229 | Electrical fire | Flammable materials around in-flight entertainment wires | [28] |
| Air France Flight 4590 | 25 July 2000 | Concorde | Gonesse, Île-de-France, France | 109/109 | Fuel tank/Engine fire | Foreign object damage on landing gear | [29] |
| China Northern Airlines Flight 6136 | 7 May 2002 | McDonnell Douglas MD-82 | Bohai Bay, near Dalian Zhoushuizi International Airport, Liaoning, China | 112/112 | Cabin fire | ||
| UPS Airlines Flight 6 | 3 September 2010 | Boeing 747-400F | Near Nad Al Sheba, Dubai | 2/2 | Cargo fire | Autoignition of cargo pallet with lithium batteries | [30] |
| Asiana Airlines Flight 991 | 28 July 2011 | Boeing 747-400F | East China Sea, W of Jeju City, Jeju Province, South Korea | 2/2 | Cargo fire | Undetermined | [31] |
| EgyptAir Flight 804 | 19 May 2016 | Airbus A320-232 | Mediterranean Sea, N of Alexandria | 66/66 | Cockpit fire | Disputed; terrorism (Egyptian officials), leaking oxygen tank and cigarette (BEA) | |