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American Pacific Announces Landmark FAA Approval
PR NEWSWIRE - October 14, 2002 13:02
LAS VEGAS, Oct 14, 2002 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- American Pacific Corporation (Nasdaq: APFC) announced today the landmark Federal Aviation Administration ("FAA") approval of a Halotron I clean agent portable fire extinguisher to replace severe ozone depleting halon 1211 on civilian commercial aircraft. The Halotron I extinguisher, manufactured by Amerex Corporation of Trussville, Alabama, has a net weight of 5.5 lbs and was the first to successfully complete all required FAA and Underwriters Laboratories, Inc. ("UL") tests. Each extinguisher has the following label: "FAA Approved. Meets the Minimum Performance Standards for Handheld Extinguishers as defined in Report DOT/FAA/AR-01/37."
The standard for approval was the culmination of a nine-year process started in October 1993, at the FAA Technical Center at Atlantic City, NJ.
This new Amerex Halotron I extinguisher provides an environmentally acceptable substitution for Halon 1211 that is extremely low in ozone depletion effect as well as global warming effect. It provides an environmentally balanced alternative that is needed for the airline industry. Halotron I is the most widely used halon 1211 replacement and is carried by four of the five major US fire extinguisher manufacturers, including Amerex, Badger, Buckeye, and Kidde.
According to the Company's best information, there are approximately 6,500 commercial passenger carrying aircraft in the US that are the size of a Boeing 707 or larger that carry an average of five halon 1211 extinguishers. There is approximately the same amount in the rest of the developed world. As a result of the US EPA ban on non-essential discharges of halon 1211 (except on "real fires"), the airlines have been unable to conduct live fire training with the halon 1211 extinguishers now employed on these aircraft for more than seven years. Some airlines have chosen to use alternate agents for simulation, such as water.
The availability of this new Amerex Halotron I extinguisher gives airlines the dual advantage of transitioning to an environmentally acceptable product as well as a product that can be used for full training programs, once again. |
