Aviation Firefighters

Beginning with the real-life story of a plane-engine fire that broke out on an Atlanta, Georgia, runway, this volume offers an exciting behind-the-scenes look at airport fire-fighting crews. The book covers the training and expertise required to handle these emergencies, including drills with practice fires and actors posing as victims. Specialized equipment and gear is described, such as a joystick-operated arm that extends off the fire truck and can pierce a plane’s cabin before a nozzle sprays chemical foam on the flames. The possibility of tragedy is covered in a straightforward manner: “Despite their amazing skills, aviation firefighters cannot always save everyone in an emergency.” Full-color, captioned photographs depict actual emergencies and training exercises. Text boxes supply additional details, such as a brief explanation of air traffic control. Back matter contains a glossary, bibliography, further reading, a link to publisher-selected Web sites, and an index.