Fire Suppression Systems Urged in All Cargo Planes

By JOAN LOWY | November 29, 2012

Government accident investigators want the Federal Aviation Administration to require fire suppression systems in all cargo planes.

The goal is to prevent the kind of ferocious in-flight fires responsible for the deaths of four pilots in three accidents since 2006.

The National Transportation Safety Board isn’t saying exactly what type of fire suppression technology airlines should install.

United Parcel Service said this week that it’s developed systems that can prevent or contain even fires in shipments of lithium batteries, which burn at very high temperatures.

Lithium batteries are suspected to have caused or contributed to the severity of the fire in crashes in Dubai and off the coast of South Korea.

Pilots were able to escape a plane in Philadelphia before it was consumed by flames.

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