Delta Air Lines has decided to fit its entire narrowbody fleet with cargo-bay fire-protection systems well ahead of an expected US Federal Aviation Administration airworthiness directive. Walter Kidde Aerospace, a division of Kidde Technologies, is Delta's chosen supplier of cargo-hold smoke-detectors which, together with Kidde's central cargo electronic-monitoring unit and cockpit control panel, are to be installed in 82 Delta aircraft .
Aircraft to be fitted include Boeing 737s and 727s and McDonnell Douglas MD-80s, as well as Lockheed L-1011TriStars. Wilson, North Carolina-based Walter Kidde says that most US fleet narrowbodies have no cargo-hold fire protection.
Clearly influenced by the fact that the anniversary of the ValuJet crash on11 May, 1996, caused by a cargo-hold fire, has passed with no visible action, the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has recently decided to elevate cargo-hold fire-protection to its "most-wanted" list for rulemaking action.
The FAA has announced that its impending notice of proposed rulemaking on the subject will specify an installation period of three years instead of the five years that the US Air Transport Association says will be necessary for compliance.
Source: Flight International
