Our Research Focus

Fire research for the FAA is primarily conducted at the William J. Hughes Technical Center. The Cabin Safety Research Team (CSRT) provides input into aircraft cabin fire safety primarily by conducting research focusing on crew inflight equipment and related procedures being used use in the aviation environment.

The CSRT Aircraft Fire Research Lab ("Fire Lab") is a simulated transport-category aircraft cabin firefighting research facility capable of simulating different types of in-cabin fires. The Fire Lab is used for inflight firefighting research and education activities, primarily during Cabin Safety Research Workshops. The Fire Lab allows researchers to investigate firefighting procedures and techniques, emergency equipment use and efficacy, crew resource management, and threat and error management techniques. The five (5) different types of in-cabin fires are galley oven fires, lavatory trash fires, overhead luggage bin fires, passenger seat fires, and personal electronic device fires. The complexity of each fire can be adjusted to elicit certain behavioral responses including flame intensity and low-level visibility using theatrical smoke generation. The Fire Lab features state-of-the-art automatic fire extinguisher refilling and crew interphone to facilitate communication between crewmembers. Built by Flame Aviation, the Fire Lab is spacious enough to allow a multi-person crew to engage in simulated in-cabin firefighting activities with a separate observation area capable of seating 18-24 observers.