Fire extinguishers for general aviation aircraft - Halon vs. Halotron 

The reason for the price difference between halon and halotron, is because halon has been banned from production on Jan 1, 1994 in accordance with the Montreal Protocol, but does not prohibit recycled halon and new old stock from being used up. Halon is a very hazardous to the ozone layer. Halotron was developed in 1992 as a replacement for Halon, poses far less risk to the environment, dispite being slightly less effective requiring more of the extinguishing agent to get the same rating. Both types are widely used in aircraft, as well as in data centers, server rooms and similar areas with expensive and critical electronic equipment.

Thank you for teaching this!! Great information!!

It seems of all the information I've come across for general aviation pilots, where they suggest carrying an onboard fire extinguisher, I've yet to see any mention of permanently installed, automatic or semi-automatic fire suppression systems. In my race car, I have a remote mounted fire extinguisher that is operated by a cable-operated pull handle from my driver's seat should a fire occur (there are also electrical activated fully automatic systems), as I am strapped very tightly in with a 5-point safety harness and reaching for anything is pretty much impossible, and if the fire occurs during a run I'm more involved in getting the car stopped first at speed than trying to grab a hand-held extinguisher (which I also carry). With fire, time is of the essence (I also wear a fire suit which gives me around 20 seconds of extra time, something pilots don't wear). The remote bottle has three 1/4" steel tubing hard lines (similar to brake line tubing) with spray nozzles at the end of the tubing, where one line is routed to and mounted inside the car in the drivers area, and the other two lines are routed into my engine bay, one on each side of my engine. If there's a fire, I pull the handle and hopefully, extinguishes the fire (at least with enough time for me to stop the car and get out). One of the problems with a hand-held fire extinguisher, is that it only works well if one can direct the extinguisher easily at the source of the fire. I would suspect the two main reasons for a fire onboard a plane, is either at the engine, which is inaccessible to the pilot, or behind the dash as an electrical fire, which is also not very accessible as a plane's dash is quite large and other than the foot/pedal area, could be fairly problematic in being able to direct the extinguisher behind the dash where the fire may be originating from (though with a Halon-type of extinguisher it does help to evacuate all the oxygen in an area so it works better in a closed space so being able to aim it as well is less of an issue, but still important). The common fire bottle sizes are 5 lb. and 10 lb. bottles, a bit larger than your usual hand-held bottles, and the 20' or so of the hard line tubing and the cable and tubing fittings weigh pretty much nothing, so it wouldn't be an issue with weight conscious small planes. I would guess the reason why you don't see fixed remote fire suppression systems in planes, is likely the FAA restricts installing them by a plane owner, and only allows certified mechanics to install them (unless one owns a non-certified plane like a KitFox or other Experimental class plane), and of course, the cost skyrockets when a certified A&P shop does the install. For me, it only took me one afternoon to install my system, and the cost for the kit was $550 for my 5 lb. bottle (the larger 10 lb. costs around $750), which is more expensive than a hand-held bottle, but there's 2 to 4 times as much extinguishing, and the cost is nothing in comparison to the cost of a fire (in both the vehicle cost loss and the possible loss of life). Why don't you see the push to install automatic/semi-automatic remote fire suppression systems for general aviation? (Also, in a somewhat unrelated note, I'm surprised that the aviation industry still uses Halon, as it is banned in most countries including the U.S. due to its destruction of the ozone layer, but for some reason it's still allowed in the aviation world, which is very odd since there are several types of extinguishers that use Halon-like chemicals that work exactly the same as Hhalon, like mine which is Dupont FE36).

the 'spray time' of any of these is somewhere between 10-30 seconds - considering you'll need to fly the plane, unsnap it from the mount between the seats, and pull the pin - then last but certainly not least; point it into the problem area - all while being PIC is something to practice while parked on the ground vs airborne

Does Halon not present a hazard in an enclosed area? If I remember during my fire suppression courses, the recommendation was to only use Halon in a well ventilated area which I believe would preclude activation in smaller, general aviation aircraft. Is there an alternative compound that may not be so hazardous (though fire on the flight deck is likely top of the hazard chain)?

Sir ,Which is good halon or haltron

Halon halotron fire extinguisher s for air flcrafts