Airlines to Install Cargo Fire Detectors

By ROBERT L. JACKSON

Dec. 13, 1996 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

WASHINGTON —

With executives of major airlines at his side, President Clinton announced Thursday that the industry will retrofit its jetliners voluntarily with cargo-hold fire detection systems.

The action follows May’s ValuJet crash in Florida in which a fire in the cargo compartment is suspected and it comes as the Federal Aviation Administration is planning to adopt rules to require detectors, as well as fire suppression systems, which are not covered by the voluntary agreement.

Clinton, commending airline officials for their decision, said that “this is a critical part of our long-range plan to make Americans more secure and to make sure our skies are safer.”

Vice President Al Gore, who is chairing a commission on airline safety, said that work on retrofitting the cargo holds of about 3,700 aircraft that lack detectors would begin next year at a cost of $400 million to the industry.

“This is a significant step forward,” Gore said. “In the absence of a rule, they’re doing it voluntarily.”

The agreement, however, does not cover the installation of systems to suppress cargo-hold fires. As long ago as 1988, the National Transportation Safety Board recommended such flame suppression equipment in cargo holds, in addition to the detectors. Firefighting systems are being built into most new long-range aircraft, but Gore said that the task and cost of retrofitting existing fleets “is significantly greater than the difficulty with detection systems.”

On that issue, he said, the airline industry “has agreed to work with us vigorously to find solutions for this challenge and we’re pressing forward on it.”

The White House has taken heightened interest in air safety since the ValuJet tragedy and the explosion of Trans World Airlines Flight 800 off Long Island in July. The cause of the TWA disaster still is undetermined.

At a safety board hearing in Miami last month, angry relatives of the 110 persons who died aboard ValuJet Flight 592 protested that inaction by federal officials on cargo safety devices was largely to blame for the Everglades crash.

“The blame can be put on many people, but the FAA is really the watchdog and the FAA has not done [its] job,” said Amanda Myers, who lost her parents in the crash. “We want those fire detectors.”

Board officials said that the cargo hold fire being blamed for the tragedy apparently was started by oxygen generators carried as freight. The generators were mislabeled as nonhazardous, lacked caps that could have prevented their ignition and were loaded on the plane in violation of FAA regulations, authorities said.

Investigators believe that one or more generators burst into flame and ignited other goods in the hold, including tires, and that the fire destroyed the aircraft’s controls. An emergency ban on hauling oxygen generators was imposed by the Transportation Department in May.

Carol Hallett, president of the Air Transport Assn., said that the airline industry is planning additional steps beyond installation of cargo fire detectors. She said that airlines will bolster training in hazardous materials to ensure that cargo is properly stored and that prohibited goods are not flown. The industry will work with the FAA on new technology for fireproof liners and fasteners for cargo compartments, she said.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Fire Safety List

The Airline Transport Assn. and these 15 major airlines pledged Thursday to install fire detection equipment in airplane cargo holds:

Alaska Airlines

American Airlines

American Trans Air

America West Airlines

Continental Airlines

Delta Air Lines

Evergreen International Airlines

Federal Express Corp.

Hawaiian Airlines