Air Crash Skills - Research Paper Example

Air Crash Skills 1. Introduction (700 words) “The mission of the fire department is to save lives and protect property” (International Association of Fire Chiefs 2008, p.366). Air crash skills are indispensable to fire fighters as it can significantly improve their rescue operation predominantly on hazardous aircraft incidents. Moreover, because saving lives is at all times the utmost priority at fire scene, search and rescue skills is exceptionally valuable at any incident. In an incident, however, saving lives remains the highest priority until it is no longer probable to rescue anyone successfully. These circumstances might take place if the incident or other reasons make it improbable that anyone could still be alive to be rescued. Almost without exception, fire fighters are often earliest on the scene of medical emergencies, hazmat releases, natural disasters, and fabricated disasters like terrorist attacks. Considering the complexity of the above, fire fighters must therefore have the essential skills to handle incidents successfully. The range of rescue hazards has never been so disparate. Presently, fire and rescue groups are being dispatched to a high-rise fire or an industrial fire in the city or a plane crash somewhere. Fire and rescue groups are now being challenged by new rescue capabilities and increasing rescue-related tasks. The days when the fire and rescue services have a rather hidden immunity from the scrutiny of the legal system are gone. A number of landmark cases in which the procedure and strategies of fire/rescue agencies have been called into question have forever removed the mask of invulnerability. Appropriate training and suitable skills are currently extremely central as the moral and legal obligation of fire/rescue agencies to uphold an invariable promptness to give timely, logical, and professional response depend on it. For instance, when personnel who lack basic technical search and rescue skills or proper equipment perform emergency operations, normally ill equipped for the intricate demands of rescue, things can hastily fail, occasionally with distressing consequence. On the contrary, rescue can be one of the most rewarding activities when fire and rescue personnel are well trained, equipped, and satisfactorily prepared to handle the consequences of hazards. Even when unanticipated disaster makes matters worse for search and rescue efforts, appropriately equipped fire fighters and rescuers are set to employ unconventional solutions without missing a beat. “This is where well-trained personnel make the difference in the outcome of difficult search and rescue operations” (Collins 2004, p.36). In the early days, many fatalities of accidents and tragedies passed away without being rescued, relatively because only a small number of fire fighters and rescuers were capable of or skilled to handle the consequences in a timely manner. Now, it has become a practice for fatalities of seemingly non-survivable disasters to be rescued alive and restored to health because fire fighters and other rescuers have the understanding, experience, skills, and tools to find, retrieve, and take care of them. Rescues that previously qualified as incredible are now frequently regarded as the normal effect of clever planning, efficient training, and excellent overall alertness by local fire departments and other rescue agencies (Cote 2004, p.378; Collins 2004, p.36). Although the incidents of fire and emergencies taking place on an aircraft are sporadic, the fire fighting and rescue capabilities may represent the difference between life and death for pilots, commuters, and other persons. This is because an aircraft crash would definitely involve major injuries and fatalities (Avery and Soo 2003, p.19). Modern aircraft present some alarming hazards to both rescuers and the passengers. Of major concern is the great amount of explosive fuel, oxygen vessels, flammable metals, batteries, and composite materials (Barr and Eversole 2003, p.825). It is therefore essential that aircraft rescue and fire-fighting personnel must be properly trained (Ashfold and Wright 1992, p.279). Fire crews require training to make certain that fire fighters have the familiarity and skills required to perform safely and professionally (Stellman 1998, p. 95). “As a rule of thumb, in the event of a serious aircraft fire, each fire fighter might expect to save up to five passengers” (Kazda and Caves 2007, p. 427). Although tools and better fire detection devices enhance the safety and success of modern fire fighters, the most indispensable tool on the fire scene remain the “knowledgeable, well-trained, physically capable fire fighters who have the ability and determination to attack the fire” (International Association of Fire Chiefs 2004, p.11). 2. Methodology (500 words) The structured approach to investigation is typically categorized as quantitative research and unstructured as qualitative research. In the structured approach all that forms the research process, goals, design, sample, and the questions that you plan to ask of respondents is programmed. The unstructured approach, on the other hand, allows flexibility in all aspects of the process. However, the structured approach is more suitable to find out the extent of a problem, issue or phenomenons while the “unstructured approach is best when exploring its nature” (Kumar 2005, p.12). Since qualitative inquiry is particularly influential as a source of grounded theory (Patton 2002, p.11) and we need to produce valid, reliable, and generalized results, we intend to use it as a method of this research. This is because it is better to produce a theory that is inductively generated from the researcher’s observations and interviews out in the real word rather than in the laboratory or the school. In addition, we also think that the major audiences for this research are other researchers and scholars, policymakers, and others concerned in understanding some phenomenon or problem of interest. The purpose of our qualitative interview is to let us enter into the other individual’s personal outlook concerning development of skills for aircraft rescue and fire fighting. “Qualitative method allows intensive measurement of new or developing concepts, subjective meanings, and causal mechanisms” (Chambliss and Schutt 2006, p.259). A grounded theory approach helps us generate and improve concepts and theories based on direct observation or in-depth consultation. Interviewing disclose what people actually mean by their ideas, and permit us to investigate their feelings thoroughly. Qualitative methods can spot the various succeeding events that might have led to several results, consequently recognizing the distinction of the underlying processes. “It is good for studying new or poorly understood settings or population that seek to remain hidden” (Chambliss and Schutt p.259). However, this method is lengthy thus only a small number cases can be observed and many believes that a few cases do not generate generalized results. Open-ended inquiries take time not only during the interview itself but also in making appointments for the participants. The ten participants we selected came from various positions in field of fire and rescue. This is because we intend to collect varying ideas and opinion as much as possible. We e-mailed questionnaires and let them freely fill it up with appropriate answers that represent their personal views and opinion. However, their responses did not come sooner as we expected and we have to wait a week to complete all ten questionnaires. Another methodological problem we encountered is the incompleteness of some of the responses and some of them missed one or two questions. To overcome these discrepancies, we immediately e-mailed the unanswered questions and explained its importance to the participants. Fortunately, we received an immediate response containing the information we need a few hours after. The response rate is overwhelming considering the participant’s hectic schedule and nature of work. Their responses were quite realistic and we actually learned so much from them. 2.1 Data Presentation 2.1.1 Question 1 – Aircraft Fire and Rescue Skills is required for all fire fighters. Majority or 80% of participants says all fire fighters should possess the skill. 2.1.2 Question 2 – Rating of problems encountered in an aircraft fire and rescue. Participants noted lack of training and equipment as the common problems encountered in an aircraft fire and rescue. 2.1.3 Question 3 – The most hazardous element in a burning aircraft 2.1.4 Question 4 - Need for special skills or protective equipment 2.1.5 Question 5 – Health Effects of Aircraft Disaster 2.1.6 Question 6 – Loss of lives is due to lack of rapid response and solution to overcome problem. 2.1.7 Question 7 – Aircraft incidents are survivable 2.1.8 Question 8 – Required for rescue: Moral Response or Professional Training or Both 2.1.9 Question 9 – At present, do you have enough equipment and training for aircraft fire and rescue? 2.1.10 Question 10 – General opinion of air crash skills 3. Analysis In reality, regardless of the finest efforts of pilots, air traffic controllers, aircraft manufacturers, and airport engineers, aircraft accidents persistently occur (Ashford and Wright p.268). Humans and machines are definitely not perfect. The type of aircraft fires is dissimilar from those of other structures and equipment because of the pace at which they expand and the extreme temperature they produced (Wells and Young, 2004, p.259). It is expected therefore, that even with the development in contemporary technology there has been modest change in the aircraft accident rate in recent years. It is then essential that more emphasis be placed on reducing the seriousness of accidents by increasing the probability of survival for those involved in an accident and any resulting fire. “It is in this area that air crash skills of fire fighters play a very important role” (Ashford and Wright p.268). Fire fighters are part of the first wave of rescuer when people are in transportation accidents and they are recognised as the individuals accountable for supervising the most critical moments of emergency accidents. Majority of aircraft fire and rescue fire fighters are based on military and civilian airports and received specialised training in aircraft fires, rescue, and extinguishing agents. This is because accident statistics shows that the majority of aircraft accidents happen during take-off and landing near or inside the airport (Kazda and Caves 2007, p.427). For instance, the Alaska Airlines Boeing 727 that crashed at Ketchikan International Airport in 1976. The American Airlines Boeing 727 crashed on take off from an aborted landing at St.Thomas, Virgin Islands also in 1976. The DC10 Continental Airlines aircraft crashed after an aborted takeoff at Los Angeles International Airport in 1978. However, as far as the majority of our survey, participants are concern, knowledge and skills in aircraft fire and rescue should be for all since a good number of aircraft incidents also occur outside the airport facility. For instance, the United Airlines 737 crashing into houses in Chicago in 1972 killing 3 crew member, 55 passengers and two people on the ground (Sharpe and Shaw 2001, p.101). Another is in 1982 when a Pan Am Boeing 727 crashed in New Orleans and claimed the lives of 145 on board, eight on the ground, and demolished a number of homes (Ray 1999, p.186). Fire and rescue personnel responding to aircraft incidents wear special personal protective equipment and responds in specialized fire apparatus that protects them from high temperature fires caused by substances such as jet fuel (International Association of Fire Chiefs 2004, p.3) which was identified by our survey respondents as the primary hazard. Airport fire apparatus is exceptionally specialized due to the inimitable threats and potential for injury at an airport (Shapiro 1999, p.91). In addition, aircraft today present many exceptional challenges since they can be constructed of distinctive materials such as carbon fibres and related glues, flammable or potentially volatile metals, and other materials that are vulnerable to impact fragmentation or fire can threaten both the fire fighter and passengers (Barr and Eversole 2003, p.815). Fires involving structural aircraft components are consequential in hazardous conditions during the fire fighting, rescue and exploration and recovery operations in a post crash situation. These are health hazards confirmed by many of our survey respondents. Discharge of a mixture of gaseous, particulate, and fibrous combustion products of unidentified composition create incomparable protection problems. Carbon fibres discharged from burning compounds are of ‘respirable size’ and contaminated with a diverse range of chemicals including polyaromatic hydrocarbons, nitrogenous aromatics, and phenolics. In a number of recent accidents according to Kulshreshtha and Vasile (2002, p.516), fire fighters and rescue people responding to aircraft fires have reported unfavourable health effects ranging from skin irritation, puncture, and sensitisation to serious respiratory problems from inhalation of fibre particulates. Following the events of 11 September 2001, it is only normal to suppose that there is heightened consciousness of the likelihood that an aircraft can be use again as weapons of destruction in the future. From a social and political viewpoint, the humanity has to organize for eventualities leading up to search and rescue of aircraft that may require to be found in the shortest possible time and the passengers and crew rescued. The predicament confronting many states stretching both to airports and to airlines, concerns the lack of rapid response, sufficient equipment and well-trained crews. An example of this crisis can be provided by the 1980 incident of a Saudi Arabian Airlines L-1011 catching fire shortly after leaving Riyadh Airport. Although the pilot turned back for an emergency landing and made a precise landing, virtually 30 minutes passed before firefighters managed to get inside the aircraft, by which time all passengers and crew had perished. Another is the 31 January 1974 when a Boeing 707 jetliner crashed at Pago Pago in American Samoa, while trying to land in heavy rainsqualls. The investigation revealed that the fire and rescue response time was delayed by rain, obstructions across the response route, terrain, and uncertainty as to what was on fire (Haine 2000, p.115). This could have been a survivable incident if only fire fighters know precisely what they have to do (Abeyratne 2002, p.238) Search and rescue operations carried out gratuitously and with intent to save human lives and property are what legal commentators call ‘humanitarian intervention’, which is regarded as a basic moral response of one human being to another, to save the latter’s life. However, a Good Samaritan fighting for the right to perform his act of humanitarian intervention may end up causing more injury that he avert (Abeyratne 2002, p.247). Our survey respondents agreed that both skill and moral obligation are needed to carry out a fire and rescue operation. Aircraft rescue fire fighting is a widely diverse and dynamic field. It covers a full spectrum from small commuter-type airports providing limited services, to private and commuter aircraft, to providing a full line of emergency response services for major airports supporting thousand of commercial flights a day. Some areas of an aircraft rescue fire fighting are similar to conventional departments and some are very different. However, one thing is consistent both from literature and from our survey respondents, that most aircraft rescue fire-fighting departments operate with considerable fewer resources that are available for immediate deployment compared to their conventional counterparts (Barr and Eversole 2003, p.816). 4. Conclusion and Evaluation In general, our research result reveals that training and possession of air crash skills is indeed essential to any fire fighting and rescue department. This is because of the fact that fire fighting and rescue operations in an aircraft are generally more dangerous than a building fire. Modern aircraft present many unique challenges because they were constructed with highly combustible and explosive materials. Our survey participants confirmed the hazard of high of temperature produced by jet fuel and the presence toxic gases in a burning aircraft that can cause adverse health effects including severe respiratory problems. Aircraft incidents are survivable but the lack of rapid response due to insufficient training made them impossible. Our research undoubtedly has some similarities with other research such as inquiries on the different hazards posed by a burning aircraft and the consequences of delayed response to an aircraft incident to name a few. However, our research specifically highlighted the significance of training and possession of air crash skills for fighters not only within the airport but also to local fire fighters in the community. Moreover, majority of the research done on aircraft fire and rescue are more concern on the technical aspect of the incident- aircraft construction etc. and tend to outshine the social issues behind it such as support from government and the public. For instance, aircraft incidents are indeed survivable but the lack of timely response due to unavailability of trained personnel and specialised equipment makes them unachievable. This means lack of funding and strict regulations from government and public awareness on the significance of the issue. Although the “mission of the fire department is to save lives and protect property”, it is impossible without funding and expertise. Consequently, fire departments are in constant struggle in expanding their rescue capabilities and public responsibilities. This is because they must fulfil their moral and legal obligation and provide professional response in a timely and reasonable manner. However, since they do not have the proper skills and equipment, rescue oftentimes results in disarray and confusion. Apparently, fire and rescue units can only make a difference if they are trained and adequately equipped. All methods of research have its strengths and weaknesses thus our research approach is not perfect. The strength of our research comes from the combination of qualitative interviews and literature review. “A survey is valid if the information it provides is an accurate reflection of respondents’ knowledge, attitudes, values, and behaviour” (Fink 2008 p.43). Our research validity is therefore unquestionable since we have interviewed qualified participants whose answered are inquiries in the best of their knowledge and individual principle. Moreover, to validate further our information, we have analyzed the interview results with theories and outcome of research found in various literatures on the subject. Reliability refers to the consistency of the information we gathered thus it is reliable in the sense that our data came from two different sources – interview and theories on literatures. We tested its reliability by comparing the interview results with published outcome of some outstanding research and it did expose some significant similarity. This is because according to Fink (2008, p. 35), in order to promote the reliability and validity of a survey is to base it on an already validated survey. Survey methods offer themselves to probability sampling from large populations and therefore survey research is very attractive when sample generalisability is a central research goal (Engel and Schutt 2005, p.223). Our research did its best to have a generalized outcome from the samples because we have selected the best possible research method to gather information from the real world. As we mentioned earlier in our methodology section, qualitative interview allow us to enter into the participant’s personal perspective and explore their feelings at great length. We cannot deny that our research has its weakness and we do agree that it can be further improved. One weakness of our research is the size of the sample since ten participants for some reason may not sufficiently represent the entire fire fighting community particularly in a worldwide scale. However, since the nature of aircraft incidents and fire and rescue units who operates under a common standards, are similar in various ways, the size of sample we have may be sufficient to prove some important points. For instance, skills are critical for special fire and rescue operations and these skills should not be limited to units operating within an airport. The implications of our research to future research endeavours are the reality that skills for aircraft fire and rescue operations are required not only for units operating near frequent crash sites but to all fire departments. Future research will then try to give more emphasis on training and the significance of such skills being available anywhere in the world. 5. Bibliography Abeyratne R. 2002, Aviation in Crisis, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., U.K. Ashford Norman and Wright Paul. 1992. Airport Engineering, Wiley-Interscience, Canada Avery William and Soo Jamie. 2003, Emergency/disaster Guidelines and Procedures for Employees, CCH Canadian Limited, Canada Barr Robert and Eversole John. 2003. The Fire Chief's Handbook, PennWell Books, U.S. Chambliss Daniel and Schutt Russell. 2006, Making Sense of the Social World: Methods of Investigation, Pine Forge Press, U.S. Collins Larry. 2004. Technical Rescue Operations: Planning, Training, & Command, PennWell Books, U.S. Cote Arthur. 2004, Fundamentals of Fire Protection, Jones & Bartlett Publishers, U.S. Engel Rafael and Schutt Russell. 2005, The practice of research in social work, SAGE, U.S. Fink Arlene. 2008, How to Conduct Surveys: A Step by Step Guide, SAGE, U.S. International Association of Fire Chiefs. 2004. Fundamentals of Fire Fighter Skills, National Fire Protection Association, Jones & Bartlett Publishers, U.S. International Association of Fire Chiefs. 2008. Fundamentals of Fire Fighter Skills, National Fire Protection Association, Jones & Bartlett Publishers, U.S. Kazda Antonin and Caves Robert. 2007, Airport Design and Operation, Emerald Group Publishing, U.K. Kulshreshtha A.K. and Vasile Cornelia. 2002. Handbook of Polymer Blends and Composites, Rapra Technology, U.K. Kumar Ranjit. 2005. Research Methodology: A Step-by-step Guide for Beginners, SAGE, Malaysia Patton Michael Quinn.2002. Qualitative Research and Evaluation Methods, SAGE, U.S. Ray Sally. 1999. Strategic Communication in Crisis Management: Lessons from the Airline Industry, Greenwood Publishing Group, U.S. Shapiro Larry. 1999, Fighting Fire Trucks, MBI Publishing Company, China Sharpe Mike and Shaw Robbie. 2001. Boeing 737-100 and 200: 100-300, Zenith Imprint, Singapore Stellman Jeanne Mager. 1998, Encyclopaedia of Occupational Health and Safety: Fourth Edition, International Labour Office, International Labour Organization, U.S. Wells Alexander and Young Seth. 2004. Airport Planning & Management, McGraw-Hill Professional, U.S. 6. Appendix 6.1 – Interview Questionnaire Interview Questionnaire Date:__________ Participants Name: Position: Division: Years in Service: Please give your personal views and opinion on the following issues: 1. Do you believe that only airport-based fire fighters should possess aircraft fire and rescue skills? If not, Why? 2. What are common problems encountered in an aircraft fire and rescue? 3. In your experience, what is the most hazardous element in a burning aircraft? 4. Do you need any special skills or protective equipment when conducting an aircraft and fire and rescue? Is your present skill and long experience in service not enough? 5. What are the health effects of aircraft disaster? 6. What can you say about the view that loss of lives in an aircraft incidents is due to the lack of rapid response? What do think is necessary to overcome this problem? 7. Do you believe that aircraft incidence is survivable? 8. Do you think humanitarian intervention or moral response without professional training is enough to attempt a rescue? 9. With reference to your department, do you think you have enough equipment and training for aircraft fire and rescue? 10. What is your general opinion of air crash skills? Read More