Carbon dioxide levels will also rise, promoting reflex hyperpnea. Use of thermal protective garments and readiness of firefighting equipment both in the aircraft and at the duty runway edge are standard procedures in the military. These measures are substantially less effective, however, than the designing of an airframe to absorb impact without fuel spillage and subsequent ignition. A survivable crash, with mild to moderate G-forces that produce associated limb fractures in passengers and crew, rapidly becomes a tragedy when postcrash fire occurs and timely egress becomes impossible. There are myriad postcrash factors influencing survivability.
Fire is the most important.
Others, such as poor communications, inadequate rescue capabilities, water survival requirements, and training problems should be evident to the investigator as problems that may require corrective action on a local level. The problem of postcrash fire, however, remains nearly universal. The University of Iowa. All rights reserved.