Recently Yahoo news reported the following:
How aeroplane breakthroughs may have saved 379 lives from
the Japan Airlines fireball
The Telegraph - Matt Oliver
Tue, January 2, 2024 at 10:02 a.m. PST
The evacuation of every passenger from the Japan Airlines
aircraft that collided with a smaller plane on Tuesday seemed all the more
miraculous as footage of the ensuing inferno emerged.
However, instead of being down to luck, industry insiders believe the incident is proof of how modern materials and tough fire safety rules can protect passengers.
The incident at Haneda Airport, Tokyo, marks the first time an Airbus A350 has been destroyed in an accident.
The model is the first of the manufacturer’s passenger jets to be built largely from carbon fibre composites.
“It’s a watershed event in aviation safety,” says Andreas Spaeth, an aviation journalist and co-host of a podcast that examines historic plane crashes.
“This was an aircraft that was absolutely full. So to see that everyone escaped safely is a miracle.
“Even then, it was a fairly long time before a big fire emerged. We have never seen a fuselage made of carbon fibre burn. And the structure held up pretty well.”
Japan Airlines operates around 16 of the shorter, A350-900 planes.
Airbus says the A350 family uses “lightweight and high-strength materials” to reduce weight and increase fuel efficiency. These carbon fiber composites make up to 54pc of the overall frame, including the wings, reinforced by titanium and other metallic alloys.
Like all aircraft, these materials also need to meet tough safety standards that give passengers 90 seconds to escape in the event of a fire.
The A350 involved in Tuesday’s collision came in to land at Haneda Airport at about 5.45pm local time, before colliding with the coast guard plane just as it was touching down.
At that moment, the footage shows a large, bright orange flash.
The A350 then continues to skid forward, with fire and smoke billowing from behind it, before coming to a stop bent forward and resting on its nose.
Five people onboard the coastguard plane were killed in the collision.
Separate footage of the incident has shown smoke filling the cabin and passengers escaping via the inflatable slides extended from the sides of the plane, while the orange glow of fire can be seen underneath at least one of the wings.
“There’s the Boeing 787 and there’s the A350 being built of carbon fiber instead of aluminium. The inside also has the newest materials for seat covers, for wall covers, for carpets, all these things.
“We have very stringent standards these days and, of course, normally you’d never see in real life how these materials actually behave in a big fire, so this was very much a confirmation that the standards actually do what they’re supposed to do, delaying the spread of fire.
“We saw many cases in the 1980s and the 90s where once an aircraft was affected by fire, it almost always spread very quickly.
“But if you watch today, it took a surprisingly long time before the whole plane was on fire.”
Jan-Arwed Richter, founder and manager of the JACDEC Flight Safety Bureau in Germany, agrees: “Every modern-day aircraft is designed, manufactured and certified to allow a safe evacuation within 90 seconds. Today’s accident proved this concept does work.”
Steve Ganyard, a former fighter pilot for the US Marine Corps and aviation expert, added on ABC News: “I think this is going to come down to human error. The airplane did its job here.”
Many experts have also credited cabin crew on board the Japan Airlines flight for getting passengers out quickly, without taking bags.
Dai Whittingham, chief executive of the UK Flight Safety Committee, told Sky News: “It is a remarkable outcome and I think there are some people out there who have been particularly lucky today.
“The message here is really important: If anything like this happens to you, you have a chance and one priority, which is to get yourself off.”
Translation
在週二日本航空公司的飛機與一架較小的飛機相撞，隨著之後出現所發生的熊熊大火的鏡頭，令能使所有乘客撤離是不可思議地神奇。
然而，業內人士認為，這起事件並不是運氣，而是證明現代材料和嚴格的消防安全規則如何可保護乘客。
東京羽田機場發生的事件標誌著空中巴士 A350 飛機首次在意外中被摧毀。
該型號是該製造商第一架主要由碳纖維複合材料製造的客機。
航空記者 Andreas Spaeth，也是一個探討歷史性空難事件的播客的聯合主持人說道: 「這是航空安全領域的一個分水嶺」。
“這是一架絕對滿座員飛機。 所以看到大家都可安全逃離是一個奇蹟。”
“即便如此，大火還是過了相當長的一段時間才出現。 我們從未見過碳纖維製成的機身燃燒。 而且結構支撑得很好。”
有雙引擎、雙通道的 A350 自 2015 年起投入商業營運。據空中巴士稱，多家國際航空公司使用該機型進行長途旅行，全球營運的飛機數量超過 570 架。
日本航空營運約 16 架較短的 A350-900 飛機。
空中巴士公司表示，A350系列使用「輕質高強度材料」來減輕重量並提高燃油效率。 這些碳纖維複合材料佔整個框架的 54%，包括機翼，並由鈦和其他金屬合金加固。
與所有飛機一樣，這些材料也需要滿足嚴格的安全標準，讓乘客在發生火災時有 90 秒的時間逃生。
週二發生碰撞事件的這架 A350 於當地時間下午 5 點 45 分左右在羽田機場降落，隨後當正在著陸時與海岸防衛隊飛機相撞。
就在那一刻，鏡頭顯示出巨大的、明亮的橙色閃光。
然後，A350 繼續向前滑行，身後冒出火焰和滾滾濃煙，然後向前彎低停了下來，機頭著地。
海岸防衛隊飛機上有五人在碰撞中喪生。
事件的另一影像顯示，煙霧充滿了機艙，乘客透過從飛機兩側延伸的充氣滑梯逃生，而至少一個機翼下方可以看到橙色的火光。
Spaeth 解釋道: 「這是新型碳纖維飛機的首次墜毀或燒毀事件」。
「波音 787 和 A350 都是用碳纖維而不是鋁製造的。 裡面還有用最新材料造的座椅套、牆布、地毯等」。
「現在我們有非常嚴格的標準，當然，通常你在現實生活中永遠不會看到這些材料在大火中的實際表現，所以這在很大程度上證實了這些標準實際上達到了預期的效果，延緩火勢蔓延」。
「但如果你今天看的話，會發現令人驚訝要用很長一段時間，整架飛機才著火」。
德國 JACDEC 飛行安全局的創始人兼經理 Jan-Arwed Richter 對此表示同意：「每架現代飛機的設計、製造和認證都是為了在 90 秒內實現安全疏散。 今天的事故證明這個想法確實可行」。
美國海軍陸戰隊前戰鬥機飛行員兼航空專家 Steve Ganyard 在美國廣播公司新聞中補充道：「我認為這碰撞將歸類為人為錯誤。 飛機在這裡完成了它的任務。”
許多專家也稱讚日本航空航班上的機組人員在乘客沒有攜帶行李的情況下迅速將他們從飛機徹離。
英國飛行安全委員會執行長 Dai Whittingham 告訴天空新聞：「這是一個了不起的結果，我認為今天有些人特別幸運」。
「這裡傳達的訊息非常重要：如果類似的事情發生在你身上，你有一個機會，一個優先事項，那就是讓自己離開」。
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