McKnight NASAWorkUpdate

							Aviation Safety and Security Program                   Accident Mitigation and Fuel Tank Inerting




                                       NASA Glenn
           Progress in Fire Protection Research

                                International Aircraft Systems
                                Fire Protection Working Group Workshop
                                Atlantic City NJ.   5-6 November, 2003


                                 Bob McKnight       robert.c.mcknight@ nasa.gov
                                 Al Linne           alan.a.linne@nasa.gov
                                 Clarence Chang clarence.t.chang@nasa.gov
                                 Jennifer Xu        jennifer.c.xu@nasa.gov

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Aviation Safety and Security Program                      Accident Mitigation and Fuel Tank Inerting


              Organization- Accident Mitigation Project

                            Accident Mitigation Project
                            Manager -- Bob McKnight




                                Fire Prevention Element
                                Manager-Clarence Chang




Inerting/Oxygen                    Fire Safe Fuels                   Cargo Fire Detection
Manager-Clarence Chang             Manager-Martin Rabinowitz         Manager- Gary Hunter



Advanced                               Elevated Flash               Low False Alarm
OBIGGS/OBOGS                           Point Fuels /                Fire Detection
Fuel Tank Inerting                     Flammability                                            2
   Aviation Safety and Security Program               Accident Mitigation and Fuel Tank Inerting

                          Recent Accomplishments
Fuel Tank Inerting
    -Flight test planning JSC B-747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft
    -Valcor PH II -testing of small scale advanced high temp membrane
    -Honeywell PH II-identified high temp materials and solvents for advanced
    membrane manufacturing process
    -Security program planning
         -Flammability feed-back control sensors, algorithms
         -Participation in Air Force Large Aircraft Survivability Initiative (LASI)
Low False Alarm Fire Detection
    -Testing at NIST
    -Testing at Boeing Commercial
    -Proposal for hidden fire detecting and locating on technology
Elevated Flash-Point Fuels
    -Fuel modification concepts identified.                                                3
          Aviation Safety and Security Program                                 Accident Mitigation and Fuel Tank Inerting


                         Security-Fuel Tank Inerting Background
Civil transport aircraft are now subject to what was once
only a military threat –MANPADS and Small Arms
(Man Portable Air Defense System)
Their proliferation has resulted in numerous shoot-downs and
close-calls involving civil passenger aircraft.
From 1975-1998, 585 passengers and crewmembers of commercial
transport aircraft died from MANPADS missile attacks. The attacks
brought down 24 aircraft and severely damaged 10. (1) .
They have long reach to arriving/departing aircraft                      Figure 1. The five foot long Stinger is seen
                                                                         approaching the C–130 from the rear.(3)
Key to the threat is the difficulty of securing the 100 or more square
miles of land surrounding civil airports. (2)
They use the fuel system against the aircraft
The explosion of a 2 lb MANPADS warhead or impact effects of small
arms can induce a far larger explosion of fuel tanks. Moderate damage
can be magnified to make the aircraft unflyable.
Countermeasures to throw off guidance systems are limited
Countermeasures can be defeated
Small arms operate without automatic guidance
1. National MANPADS Workshop, Redstone Arsenal AL, 1998
                                                                          Figure 2. The missile’s 2.2 pound warhead
2. “The Vexing Problem of Protecting Airliners from MANPADS” Aircraft
Survivability Magazine, spring 2003                                            detonates inside the engine nacelle.(3)

3. Aircraft Survivability Magazine, spring 2003                                                                          4