#1687: SlowedShower

It turns out that airliner brakes can reach 1400 deg C, when used hard during an aborted takeoff.

A delay of five minutes is then expected once the plane has actually stopped -before any fire engines can deal with the melting undercarriage and the threat of a major fire.

Today’s invention is to adopt the simple approach of running some pipework from the aircraft’s waste water tank(s) to above the wheel wells.

Whilst waiting for fire appliances to appear, the crew can open a valve and sluice the entire area in water, just before the passengers depart down the slides.

There would be a fair bit of steam and not a little smell, but at least there would be a reduced chance of disembarking people into a kerosene fire on the runway.

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