PAL acquires cabin fire and smoke trainer

As part of its initiative to gain five-star status, Philippine Airlines (PAL) recently acquired a $300,000 Cabin Fire and Smoke Trainer (CFST), a one-story structure for simulating inflight fire scenarios, to better prepare pilots and crew for emergencies.

The CFST has a fire training area which mimics the layout of an actual aircraft cabin, based on a realistic cabin footprint with an aisle, galley, seats, overhead stowage bins and a lavatory to simulate fire scenarios.

During training proper, crew members will be asked to play various roles: As firefighter, communication channel between the crew and the cockpit/flight deck and assisting firefighter.

While “The threat of an inflight fire is very rare because of our onboard safety systems when it does occur, the best defense is for our flight and cabin crew to have a comprehensive knowledge of effective firefighting techniques," stressed PAL President and COO Jaime J. Bautista.

"We adopt a scenario-based training concept, so participants feel like they are in an actual emergency situation,” PAL VP for Safety Nelsie Fabila added.

“To ensure a safe training environment, the fire trainor is equipped with a gas detection system, temperature sensors and emergency stops."

All the fires in the fire trainor are fully automatic so when the instructor selects the command "fire," the simulated fire starts automatically. When he selects "stop," the fire is extinguished. (EVA)