Commercial Fixed Wing
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Smoke / Fire / Fumes / Odor; Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence
General None Reported / Taken
Procedure; Weather
I was riding in the back of the aircraft on the flight from ZZZ to DEN. On arrival; the descent path took the aircraft straight through the middle of the enormous smoke column from the large wildfire in Colorado. The cabin immediately filled with smoke dense enough to make my eyes water and my throat burn. At the same time; there was nothing but dark orange light in the windows. The light; while not a Safety concern; was certainly eerie. Several passengers were visibly concerned and some pressed their call buttons to ask the Flight Attendant about the situation. We were in the column for several minutes. I was a little surprised when we landed in DEN to look back and realize that there were no other clouds in the sky. The smoke column looked; for all intents and purposes; like a thunderstorm. In my opinion; based on my experience in wildland fire fighting aviation; it would have been reasonable and prudent to ask for a deviation around the smoke column just as any of us would have for a thunderstorm. I've never been certain whether there is actually an aircraft Safety concern regarding flying through dense wood smoke but based on what I saw in the back of the aircraft yesterday there's definitely a passenger comfort concern. It might be worth addressing this in some kind of publication to the pilots.
Jumpseater seated in rear reported aircraft flew through a wildfire smoke column for several minutes.