European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 18, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                J or. A no its 3 a id is 3rk to her de re survival planning . Crash Renews Issue by Don Phillips Washington Post sixty seven people aboard us air flight 1493 survived the fiery collision with a smaller plane 1 feb. 1 in los Angeles. They scrambled out exits As choking smoke and heat spread through the Cabin. But 17 others who managed to Dunstrap their seat belts and move toward exits died within a few feet of safety. A. The crash has again raised questions about How far the. Government should go in requiring airlines to build fire safety into passenger Cabins. V _ numerous Steps have been taken in the last decade to give passengers a few seconds or minutes extra to escape crashes after they have survived the Impact. I still unresolved Are what further Steps some of them a costly should be required. Should Cabin sprinkler systems. Be installed should passengers be Given smoke hoods should seats near window exits be removed. The us air jetliner was an older plane that had some of the new fire retarding technology but not All of it. The seats were made of a material designed to slow the spread of flames. The plane contained fire Quot extinguishers smoke hoods for the Cabin Crew floor a track lighting to guide passengers to exits and other fire safety measures required by the Federal aviation administration in the last few  it did not have carpeting and Wall and ceiling fabrics designed to reduce flammability and heat release. /  Faa now requires such materials on new airliners and requires that they be installed on older planes when they1 go through a major maintenance Check. The us air plane u had not been through such a Check since the Rule a became final last aug. 20. A Bya \ the crash provides almost a textbook illustration of the effectiveness of current fire safety systems. The Impact. Was almost fully survivable for passengers on the Boeing 737. A a a. A. A a a a a a a. A. A although All passengers and Crew were killed in the. V smaller sky West plane and the Captain was killed on the us air flight one passenger on the 737 was found a buckled in his seat apparently the Only person unable to. Attempt an escape. Other dead passengers were found near window exits or apparently trying to reach door exits by All accounts flight attendants did their Job professionally. One attendant died and another was a a injured at the front of the plane possibly because they a stayed behind to help  two attendants at the rear apparently saved lives by quickly opening escape doors and authoritatively directing passengers through the darkness and heat toward the doors. Although one exit jammed and another was blocked by fire four others opened and Many passengers ,. Managed to escape. The Airport fire department arrived a within one minute investigators said and began pouring foam into the open window exits immediately. Several passengers said they Felt their Way to safety by going i. Toward the Cool Spray from the foam. A a a Quot a with so Many things going right Why were 17 people y unable to get out a whether flame retardant materials would have a a a provided the extra moments that would have allowed them to escape is something the National transportation safety Board will not determine for weeks or months. The Board also will try to determine the source of the fire. The 737�?Ts fuel tanks remained largely intact meaning the Only major source of burning fuel had to come from. The sky West Fairchild metro liner buried under the 737. Nosb member Jim Burnett said that the Board is sending a fire darn aged oxygen bottle from the 737 cargo compartment to the Fri fire science lab in an Effort to determine the nature of the damage and Why there was any fire in that area. A a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a. A a it is Clear according to Federal investigators that current systems did help passengers survive Burnett a Sard several passengers reported that the floor track lighting which the Nosb required planes install helped them escape. Just As the crash probably will produce new fire safety. Recommendations Many of the Curre Trules were i spurred by previous crashes for exam of amp a lavatory fire  air Canada dc-9 on july 9, 1932, which Killeck 23 before the plane could make an emergency Landing a Cincinnati led to the Faa s  fire resistant Cabin Mal creels. Y ./y7, a a critics charge that the Faa is going too slowly. Particularly on Long standing efforts to make window exits More accessible a either by removing a seat next to the. Exit or making the space Between the rows wider at a window exits.,Matthew a Finucane director of air safety a and health for the association of flight attendants said it is v unforgivable that he Faa has taken More than five a years to act or the Issue. J a. Finucane said the British civil aviation authority a moved quickly to provide greater Access to window exits after a British air Tours Boeing 737 suffered an engine tire and aborted its Takeoff from Manchester International a Airport in 1985. A. Although the plane stopped on the runway an firefighters arrived 30 seconds later 55 people died in the. Ensuing fire partly because of difficulty getting out exits / yet the Faa still has not acted he said. A a Quot Many people Are still dying in survivable crashes Quot a Finucane said. Anthonyj Broderick the Faass associate / administrator for regulation and certification said tie can understand Why some critics grow impatient with the a a regulatory process. But he said it is also the Faass Job to a be Suire the proper action is taken and no harm is done. To said removing one seat irom exit doors would chop 2 a percent of an air planet a Revenue generating capacity. Quot spreading the seats is a More reasonable approach a Quot one that we Are analysing Quot he  Broderick said the Faa has promulgated dozens of Tiro safety rules Over the last few years that have helped. Passengers survive including requiring fire resistant materials automatic fire extinguishers in lavatories and v. Cargo compartments lavatory smoke detectors and i Loci lighting. Quot what i think you see is the fruits of a regulatory. Process that is really aggressive Quot Broderick said. Fire safety advocates such As the aviation Consul Nei action project say providing passenger swish  hoods could increase their chances of surviving. Other groups want , equipped with sprinkler ,_ _ Ieie a. There is widespread resistance to smoke hoods in the Industry and government partly because most experts fool passengers would delay their exits to put on the smoke Hood defeating its purpose. Quot. ,. Walters. Coleman vice president for operations at the air transport association said research has shown that people resist putting something Over their Heads when. They Are already choking even  they know it will help. Them breathe. ,. However a major worldwide Effort is underway to produce a Cabin sprinkler system that would Spray a Fine Mist of water from the ceiling dissipating hot gases and slowing the Point of Quot flashover Quot when the gases erupt into an a survivable fire. A a. Jim likes director of payload systems at Boeing said such a system seems simple to install and some tests show Promise. But numerous complicated safety. Questions remain to be answered he said such As the. Impact of the High voltage systems in modern aircraft if the sprinkler system inadvertently Start during flight. The Impact of a crash at los Angeles this month was almost fully survivable for passengers on a us air Boeing 737. But even with Many things going right 17 people were unable to get out. February 18,1991 the stars and stripes a Page 15