WASHINGTON (AP) -- Airlines would have to replace or upgrade old insulation in more than 800 Boeing jetliners to meet newer, more stringent fire safety standards, under a rule proposed Friday by the Federal Aviation Administration.
John Hickey, director of the FAA's aircraft certification service, said the agency does not believe the problem poses an imminent danger. However, he said, ''Fire and airplanes are a bad mix, so when you have the opportunity to reduce the risk you take it.''
Airlines will get six years to complete the work, which involves replacing the insulation between the jets' skin and cabin. Civil aviation authorities around the world usually follow the FAA's lead and issue similar directives. About 1,600 planes would be affected worldwide.
Canadian investigators have said that Swissair Flight 111 plunged into the ocean off the Nova Scotia coast in 1998 because of a fire fed by insulation in the cockpit. All 229 people aboard were killed.
Since that crash, the FAA has embarked on an aggressive fire safety program that includes improving the fire-resistance of materials used in planes.
In 2003, the agency set higher fireproofing standards for insulation that the industry must comply with this year.
The genesis for concern about the insulation covered by Friday's proposal was a 2002 fire in the cargo hold of a jetliner on the ground. As a result of the fire, Boeing looked into the fireproof properties of that insulation's covering, a film called AN-26.
Boeing believes age and contamination had affected the film's fireproof properties. The film was made between 1981 and 1988 and the FAA believes it was installed on 831 U.S.-registered Boeing 700-series jetliners.
Though the FAA doesn't agree that aging and contamination caused the failure of the insulation film to meet fire standards, Boeing Co. spokeswoman Liz Verdier said both Boeing and the FAA believe there is a problem that must be fixed.
''This material flunks, we're all in agreement on that,'' Verdier said.
Verdier said the company has come up with a solution: a fire-retardant spray that will be good for the life of the airplane and resistant to contamination.
The FAA has yet to approve the spray-on solution, which could be ready for use by next April.
The spray is an attractive alternative to replacing insulation, a complex operation that involves removing the material without disturbing the plane's systems. The FAA estimates replacement would cost the U.S. airline industry $330 million, while the spray-on method may cost less than $200 million.
Boeing also argues that age and contamination reduce the fire resistance of all kinds of insulation. The company has urged the FAA to look into insulation used throughout the aviation industry.
The FAA says its research shows that aging doesn't diminish the fireproof qualities of insulation.
But John Nance, an aviation safety expert, said it's too early to make a blanket statement about whether insulation loses its ability to retard fire as it gets old, saying, ''We have not adequately researched or discovered whether aging has anything to do with it.''
Because of the Swissair crash, the FAA in 2000 required airlines to replace their insulation if it was the kind used in the Swissair plane, an MD-11. About 700 Boeing and McDonnell-Douglas aircraft had to swap out the insulation that was installed between the jet's aluminum skin and the cabin.
The deadline for that retrofit is June 30. Insulation has been replaced on about 90 percent of the aircraft.
