A Quantification Study of the Available Safe Escape Time (ASET) from a Boeing 737-800 Aircraft during an In-Flight Cabin Fire

This paper quantifies the Available Safe Escape Time (ASET) from a Boeing 737-800 aircraft during an in-flight passenger cabin fire. Based on the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) standard evacuation threshold of 90 seconds, the paper demonstrates that conditions in a modern 737-800 may become untenable in under 90 seconds where smoke is diluted and re-circulated by the onboard air-conditioning system. The work applies the ASET/RSET methodology from PD 7974-6 to an aircraft passenger cabin and comprehensively explores the fire safety features provided within a commercial aircraft cabin. The ASET is quantified through modelling of various fire scenarios and ventilation condition in PyroSim and with reference to relevant fire case studies for source material.