Flight deck protection is necessary in cases where the flight deck is filled with smoke due to lithium battery fires occurring in cargo compartments or fires on any other component in the aircraft. Lithium battery fires generate a tremendous amount of heat and gases that can overwhelm the designed pressure difference between the flight deck and cargo compartment as a safety mechanism to keep smoke out of the flight deck. As the flight deck is being filled with smoke, the pilots view outside the aircraft as well as their view of the instrument cluster is obstructed making it difficult to operate the aircraft. Aircraft accidents such as UPS Flight 6 and ASIANA Flight 991 has shown the ability of smoke from cargo fires to fill into the flight deck. Other incidents have shown that burning of electrical components, oil, and other materials also generate smoke that can make its way into the flight deck.

An Emergency Vision Assurance System (EVAS) can be used to assist in clearly viewing the essential instrumentation and an unobstructed view out of the windshield in cases of emergency. It is a system that inflates and occupies the space surrounding a pilot and displaces the smoke away from the essential flight controls. Other safety features available in the flight deck such as oxygen mask and smoke goggles are still to be used in conjunction with the EVAS.