Safety
Peimann TOFIGHI-NIAKI
Senior Engineer, A320 Family/A330/A340 Standards
Flight Operations Support and Safety Enhancement
The SMOKE/FUMES/
AVNCS SMOKE
Procedure
1. Introduction
Until 2002 the Quick Reference the crew from having to flip back with a LAND ASAP message. In the
Handbook (QRH) contained six and forth through the QRH pages frame of this procedure, the LAND
independent smoke procedures. and from repeating actions in case of ASAP message requests crews to be
The crew had to decide which one switch to another suspected smoke prepared for a diversion.
to apply according to the suspected source. The “Immediate Landing” term,
smoke source: CARGO, LAVA- The first three sources of smoke - found in the QRH paper procedure,
TORY, CREW REST COMPART- CARGO, LAVATORY, CREW REST means: “Accept exceptional circum-
MENT, AVIONICS, AIR COND, COMPARTMENT- , which are easier stances such as a tailwind landing,
CABIN EQUIPMENT. to trace, have kept their own dedicated ditching, off airport landing etc”
In practice, it is often difficult to procedures.
discriminate between the last three This article will describe how the
sources of fire: AVIONICS, AIR 2.2 The Difficulty to Identify
Airbus SMOKE/FUMES/AVNCS
COND, CABIN EQUIPMENT. SMOKE procedure was developed. the Smoke Source
The procedures applicable to these It will then explain its philosophy, As stated in the introduction, Air-
sources were therefore merged into thereby providing guidelines into the bus decided to classify the known
the single SMOKE/FUMES/AVNCS decision making process from the sources of smoke into two different
SMOKE procedure, thus relieving early stage of the procedure. categories:
q The smoke sources that are easier
to locate, because they have an
ECAM and/or a local warning,
and for which there are available
means of fire treatment:
2. Procedure • CARGO
Development 2.1 The Shortage of Time
• LAVATORY
• CREW REST COMPARTMENT
The procedure takes into account In a smoke situation, timing is critical.
three decisive challenges common to Studies show that a fire may become q The smoke sources that are more
non immediately identified sources uncontrollable in as little as 8 minutes difficult to locate, which may, or
of smoke: and that, in this case, the fight crew may not, be covered by an ECAM
q The shortage of time may have as little as 15 minutes to alert and that are considered more
bring the aircraft on the ground. difficult to deal with:
q The difficulty to identify
the smoke source For this reason the SMOKE/ • AVIONICS
q The need for two ways cockpit/ FUMES/AVNCS SMOKE ECAM • AIR COND
cabin crew communication. and QRH paper procedures both start • CABIN EQUIPMENT
As stated above, these three smoke In a smoke situation this message
sources call for the single SMOKE/ alerts the crew to anticipate the di-
FUMES/AVNCS SMOKE proce- version. SMOKE/FUMES/AVNCS SMOKE
dure. LAND ASAP
The procedure is then designed
around the following action blocks: APPLY IMMEDIATELY
note 1 q Immediate Actions
VENT EXTRACT ............................................... OVRD
CAB FANS ........................................................... OFF
The QRH SMOKE/FUMES/AVNCS q AT ANY TIME Items GALLEYS ............................................................ OFF
SMOKE paper procedure is to be ap- q Diversion Decision SIGNS ...................................................................ON
plied whenever the source of smoke CKPT/CAB COM ..................................... ESTABLISH
is suspected to be AVIONICS, AIR q Troubleshooting.
IF REQUIRED:
COND, CABIN EQUIPMENT or in case
CREW OXY MASKS .................ON/100%/EMERG
of doubt about the smoke origin. If
3.1 Immediate Actions
another smoke warning is triggered
(e.g. LAVATORY SMOKE), the flight The first action block of the proce-
crew must apply the dedicated exist- dure is referred to as the “Immedi-
ing procedure. ate Actions” (fig. 1).
They have been designed to be
quick, simple, and reversible. They
are actions that will not make the
situation worse, and prevent recir-
2.3 The Need for two Ways culation. They protect the crew and
Cockpit/Cabin Communication ensure communication. Immediate
Establishing good two ways commu- Actions must be applied without de-
lay and prior to any further assess-
nication with the cabin crew is essen-
ment from the flight crew.
tial in a smoke situation.
In case of smoke in the cabin, the
cabin crew should inform the flight
crew of the situation as soon as pos-
sible and should follow up on smoke
dissipation. Vice versa, in case of
smoke in the cockpit, the feedback
from the cabin crew may prove use- Figure 1
ful to identify the smoke source. Immediate Actions
Communication between cockpit and
cabin is important in many situations. Figure 2
However, in a smoke/fire/fumes situa- AT ANYTIME items
tion it is so important that Airbus added
the CKPT/CABIN COM… ESTAB-
LISH action step in the procedure.
3.2 AT ANY TIME Items
3. Procedure The “AT ANY TIME” items must
Philosophy be applied if the smoke becomes
the greatest threat or if the situation
The trigger of a smoke alert is either becomes unmanageable (fig. 2).
an ECAM message, or a visual or As the name suggests, the flight
olfactory perception of smoke (by ei- "AT ANYTIME" items crew can apply the “AT ANY
ther cabin or cockpit crew). As soon TIME” items at any stage of the
as an alert is triggered, for which At ANY TIME of the procedure, if smoke/fumes procedure, provided that they have
there is no dedicated procedure, the becomes the GREATEST THREAT: at least completed the immedi-
flight crew must apply the SMOKE/ SMOKE FUMES REMOVAL .................. CONSIDER ate actions. These items must be
FUMES/AVNCS SMOKE proce- ELEC EMER CONFIG ........................... CONSIDER known by memory.
dure without delay. Both ECAM and Refer to the end of procedure to set ELEC
EMER CONFIG It is important to keep in mind
QRH paper procedures are totally that the smoke removal procedure
compatible with one another. At ANY TIME of the procedure, if situation does not stop the smoke source but
becomes UNMANAGEABLE:
As mentioned in 2.1, the procedure rather aims at removing the smoke
IMMEDIATE LANDING ......................... CONSIDER from the cockpit.
starts with a LAND ASAP message.
Safety
The electrical emergency configu- 3.4 Troubleshooting isolating different systems and as-
ration aims to shed as much equip- Once the diversion is initiated, the sessing smoke dissipation.
ment as possible. On the A330/A340 troubleshooting may be carried on The different smoke sources listed
Family, it is important to note that in in an attempt to identify and fight for troubleshooting in the procedure
electrical emergency configuration, the origin of the smoke. The iden- appear in the most probable to least
smoke removal cannot be performed. tification will be undertaken by probable order.
Therefore if considered necessary,
the smoke removal procedure must
be applied before the electrical emer-
gency configuration is set. Figure 3
Diversion
Finally, if the situation becomes un- Decision Making ANTICIPATE
manageable, if the flight crew is not DIVERSION
able to maintain the control of the
aircraft until an airfield is reached,
then an immediate landing is to be
considered.
note 2 YES NO
As mentioned in 2.1, The “Immedi- Q1
ate Landing” term, found in the paper Q1: is the smoke source
SMOKE/FUMES/AVNCS SMOKE pro- immediately obvious,
cedure, means: “Accept exceptional ISOLATE accessible and
circumstances such as a tailwind extinguishable?
landing, ditching, off airport landing
NO
etc”.
Q2
3.3 Diversion Decision Making
Q2: Was the smoke source isolated?
The crew should consider the follow- YES
ing two questions, which constitute
the core of the SMOKE/FUMES/
AVNCS procedure: INITIATE
END OF PROC
q Is the smoke source immediate-
ly obvious, accessible and extin-
DIVERSION
guishable?
q If this is the case, can it be iso-
lated?
If the answer to these two questions 4. Conclusion
is YES, then this is the end of the
procedure. In 2002 the SMOKE/FUMES/ The SMOKE/FUMES/AVNCS pro-
AVNCS procedure replaced three cedure starts with an alert to antici-
On the other hand, if the answer to at
different smoke procedures appli- pate a diversion and is then designed
least one of the two above questions
cable to smoke sources that were around four action blocks:
is NO, then the diversion must be
difficult to locate: AVIONICS, AIR q Immediate Actions
initiated. In case of doubt a diversion
COND, CABIN EQUIPMENT. The q AT ANY TIME Items
should be initiated (fig. 3). other sources of smoke - CARGO, q Diversion Decision Making
LAVATORY, CREW REST COM-
q Troubleshooting.
PARTMENT- , which are easier to
TASK SHARING FOR CABIN CREW trace, have kept their own dedicated The general action flow calls for the
Airbus has developed a precise task shar- procedures. Immediate Actions to be performed
ing for cabin crew, which can be found first, followed by the decision on
The SMOKE/FUMES/AVNCS pro-
in the Operator’s Cabin Crew Operating whether or not to divert. The trouble-
cedure had to integrate the need to
Manual (CCOM), or in the “Getting To Grips act quickly, the difficulty to identify shooting actions are performed last.
with Cabin Safety” publication, available the smoke source and the necessity to As implied by the title, the AT ANY
on Airbus World. The task sharing identi- involve both cockpit and cabin crews. TIME items should be performed
fies three main roles within a cabin crew Equally, the challenge was to design immediately whenever the smoke/
working team, each having a specific task a single procedure that would cover fumes becomes the greatest threat or
to best prevent any escalation of the event. the largest number of situations while whenever the situation becomes un-
keeping it as simple as possible. manageable.
Safety
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