Joint Committee on Aviation Pathology: XV. Medical investigation of fatalities from aircraft-accident burns.

Burn deaths of medicolegal importance are of two main types: those in which the circumstances suggest that the fire was used to commit or conceal a homicide or suicide, and those that involve the public interest or safety, such as an aircraft accident fire. The great majority of fire deaths are accidental, but it would be foolish for anyone, particularly an aircraft accident investigator, to assume anything about a death associated with an aircraft fire. This paper will discuss the medical investigation of fatalities from aircraft-accident burns.