ASEL, no fire extinguisher on board: go or no go?

daemon

daemon

Pre-Flight
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Daemon
On preflighting a C172N at my club for a local 1.5 hour flight, I discovered that there was no fire extinguisher on board. Spoke to the dispatcher, who called maintenance, who said a fire extinguisher is not required equipment on that older model of the 172.

So, what would you do in my shoes: go for the short flight or stay on the ground?
 
I would kick myself for wasting air time asking someone else about whether or not a fire extinguisher was required by the KOEL rather than looking at it in the POH myself. Then I would go flying.

What's the question? You think you can't fly unless there's a fire extinguisher on board because...???

In the POH I found online for a 172N, the Fire Extinguisher is clearly marked as a -A item, meaning it is optional equipment. Go fly.

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If a fire extinguisher is that important to you take the one from your car and carry it with you on your flight.
 
It's your choice,not sure the extinguisher,will be all that much help,if you get a serious fire.
 
I prefer to have one but I would make the flight w/o it.
 
A point of clarification: not asking if the flight was legal (a la 1st two replies). Simply wanting to get a sense whether others would proceed with the flight without one (per the three replies above). Thanks.
 
daemon said:
A point of clarification: not asking if the flight was legal (a la 1st two replies). Simply wanting to get a sense whether others would proceed with the flight without one (per the three replies above). Thanks.
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Not something I would get excited about one way or ta'udder.
 
Well it's just another three pounds less overgross you are :)
 
Stewartb said:
If a fire extinguisher is that important to you take the one from your car and carry it with you on your flight.
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LOL. Yeah. Fire extinguisher or not, if my plane's on fire, I'm doing an emergency descent (if high) and looking for a place to set down RIGHT NOW.
 
I don't think I've ever flown an aircraft that had one.
 
Hell, I was serious. I have a fire extinguisher mounted to my pilot seat and I've used it a couple of times. After my second airplane ground fire experience I added one in my truck, too.
 
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When I bought my plane it did not have one. I bought one for it but still need to permanently mount it. It sits in the back under my flight back so it won't bounce around. I flew my plane here from Texas without one.
 
Stewartb said:
If a fire extinguisher is that important to you take the one from your car and carry it with you on your flight.
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Not sure about that... Many commonly used fire extinguishers are dry power. Not sure I want to try that in a closed environment. There is a reason aircraft typically have Halon extinguishers installed.
 
Mine are Halotron.
 

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All of the planes in our flight school have a fire extinguisher. However I wouldn't have problem renting a plane without one
 
First and foremost, is the plane legal without one, some are, some are not.

Second would I fly it without (presuming its legal).

In a rental, yes I'll fly, tiny ground fire starts I'll just walk away, they don't want to provide one, thats on them.

In my plane, nope, not taking a total loss over a small fire I could have blown out with the 100buck extinguisher in 5 seconds.
 
daemon said:
On preflighting a C172N at my club for a local 1.5 hour flight, I discovered that there was no fire extinguisher on board. Spoke to the dispatcher, who called maintenance, who said a fire extinguisher is not required equipment on that older model of the 172.

So, what would you do in my shoes: go for the short flight or stay on the ground?
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Wow! How did you EVER dare to fly?! In fourty five years of flying there was never a fire ext. in any airplane I flew including rental planes, Stearman, 170, t crafts, shrike commander, aeronca champs, Mooneys, bonanzas, etc. On and on ad nauseum. As referenced before, why not use the one you keep in your car?
 
Sac Arrow said:
Is this a serious question?
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Apparently. And a simple one too.

bflynn said:
I would kick myself for wasting air time asking someone else about whether or not a fire extinguisher was required by the KOEL rather than looking at it in the POH myself. Then I would go flying.

What's the question? You think you can't fly unless there's a fire extinguisher on board because...???

In the POH I found online for a 172N, the Fire Extinguisher is clearly marked as a -A item, meaning it is optional equipment. Go fly.

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He didn't quibble about the legality, he was just asking if other pilots think fire extinguishers are important enough to be a no-go item.

Jimmy cooper said:
Wow! How did you EVER dare to fly?! In fourty five years of flying there was never a fire ext. in any airplane I flew including rental planes, Stearman, 170, t crafts, shrike commander, aeronca champs, Mooneys, bonanzas, etc. On and on ad nauseum. As referenced before, why not use the one you keep in your car?
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Typical PoA turbodick responses. :dunno::dunno:

Anyway, FWIW, I do carry a little extinguisher that sits in my console, not permanently mounted. Most of the planes I've rented and flown over the years HAVE had extinguishers. I'd consider buying a tiny one and bringing it along if the rental outfit didn't want to provide one.
 
Jimmy cooper said:
... As referenced before, why not use the one you keep in your car?
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I'm supposed to have a fire extinguisher in my car?? :eek:

Holy crap!!! Now how am I going to drive to Taco Bell to get dinner if first I have to walk to Auto Zone to buy a fire extinguisher and then not have enough cash to buy dinner? :lol:
 
Telling the truth, I'd go without it, "legally required" or not. Especially if it was a rental.
 
Jimmy cooper said:
Wow! How did you EVER dare to fly?! In fourty five years of flying there was never a fire ext. in any airplane I flew including rental planes, Stearman, 170, t crafts, shrike commander, aeronca champs, Mooneys, bonanzas, etc. On and on ad nauseum. As referenced before, why not use the one you keep in your car?
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Easy there, Turbo. If one hadn't learned to fly back in 19-ought-7, they'd have no clue whether it was commonplace to not have fire extinguishers on-board. No need to get snarky over it. Someone asks if most would consider it safe and you jump their case over it with "How did you EVER dare to fly?" as if the fire extinguisher was the determining factor in the decision to take up flying. :rolleyes2:
 
MikeELP said:
I'm supposed to have a fire extinguisher in my car?? :eek:

Holy crap!!! Now how am I going to drive to Taco Bell to get dinner if first I have to walk to Auto Zone to buy a fire extinguisher and then not have enough cash to buy dinner? :lol:
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About 30 years ago a friend and I came around a corner to find an old guy hopping out of his car because the interior was on fire. Dropped cigarette maybe? No matter, we had open beers so we shook up the Michelobs and sprayed the fire out. The old guy was so happy he gave us a couple of $20s to buy more beer. These days driving with beer is frowned upon even in the name of readiness so a fire extinguisher seemed like a good alternative. :redface:
 
DesertNomad said:
When I bought my plane it did not have one. I bought one for it but still need to permanently mount it. It sits in the back under my flight back so it won't bounce around. I flew my plane here from Texas without one.
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There is a mounting kit to mount one under the Copilot part of the panel in the Dakota, maybe all Cherokee's.
Ours doesn't have it but we are putting it on someday.
 
Stewartb said:
About 30 years ago a friend and I came around a corner to find an old guy hopping out of his car because the interior was on fire. Dropped cigarette maybe? No matter, we had open beers so we shook up the Michelobs and sprayed the fire out. The old guy was so happy he gave us a couple of $20s to buy more beer. These days driving with beer is frowned upon even in the name of readiness so a fire extinguisher seemed like a good alternative. :redface:
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Best use I've ever heard of for Nickelbob....
 
Jimmy cooper said:
he must be bubble boy!
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Yes, new to aviation with a limited experience outside whatever was offered by the flight school where he/she learned.

Imagine that.

Kind of like not knowing how to run the self service fuel or that there is no auto shutoff because the rental was always fueled when he/she got there.

Or, not knowing how / where to find transient tiedown spots at some random airport because training was always just a stop and go at the cross country waypoints.

Or, not knowing about courtesy cars and that you need to bring flea powder (that was a joke))

Or...

Or...

Or...

Then, there those of us who were never noobs.
 
He'll be your new best friend if he happens to be nearby when one of your planes has a fire! He had an honest question and wanted some feedback. Get over yourselves.
 
I would not fly without mine. A fire inflight is my biggest fear! It's another tool to fight one if I have access to it. If my apartment is required to have one when I can just walk out. You bet I consider my airplane to need one
 
If POA ever goes down in flames, it won't be because SZ shut down. And it won't be because there was no fire extinguisher available. It will be due to responses to innocent questions posed by new pilots.
 
Stewartb said:
He'll be your new best friend if he happens to be nearby when one of your planes has a fire! He had an honest question and wanted some feedback. Get over yourselves.
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There is only one

Gerhardt said:
If POA ever goes down in flames, it won't be because SZ shut down. And it won't be because there was no fire extinguisher available. It will be due to responses to innocent questions posed by new pilots.
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AMEN!
 
Gerhardt said:
If POA ever goes down in flames, it won't be because SZ shut down. And it won't be because there was no fire extinguisher available. It will be due to responses to innocent questions posed by new pilots.
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I wish there was a like button. There's not, so :thumbsup:
 
I think my Cirrus was the first plane I owned with a fire extinguisher.

My Sky Arrow did not come with one, but I added one:

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That said...

1) The chances on any given flight of having a fire are vanishingly small.

2) The chances that you'll be able to reach such a fire with an extinguisher is even smaller.

But overall, cheap insurance.
 
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Jimmy Cooper,

Any chance you could tell the poster what you think or perhaps even give him a bit of advice without making a personal attack?

Gerhardt said:
If POA ever goes down in flames, it won't be because SZ shut down. And it won't be because there was no fire extinguisher available. It will be due to responses to innocent questions posed by new pilots.
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Absolutly!

To the OP, I'd prefer to fly with one but I don't think I'd cancel a flight just becuase there was not one in there. its a good thing to have and you might suggest the club buy one or if it matters that much to you you can get one on ebay for about $100 and just donate it to the club.
 
I have one in the plane, and I have one in the car. But these days the thing I'm more worried about are lithium batteries. The other day i was hanging around the hangar waiting for someone so i decided to take an oven mitt and try to throw my imaginary burning iphone out the little beechcraft vent window. I'm not sure i could do it before it burned through the mitt. I'm not yet carrying an oven mitt in the back seat pocket, but the whole issue gives me pause about letting everyone in the plane bring in 1 or 2 personal i-devices.
 
JHW said:
I have one in the plane, and I have one in the car. But these days the thing I'm more worried about are lithium batteries. The other day i was hanging around the hangar waiting for someone so i decided to take an oven mitt and try to throw my imaginary burning iphone out the little beechcraft vent window. I'm not sure i could do it before it burned through the mitt. I'm not yet carrying an oven mitt in the back seat pocket, but the whole issue gives me pause about letting everyone in the plane bring in 1 or 2 personal i-devices.
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Are your pax trying to stab their phones with knives?

From what I've seen it takes a bit to get one to go up.

I can tell you that you can bend a iPhone 6+ nearly 45 degrees and bend it back, it'll still work for a while, no fire, explosions or apocalypse.

I'd still be more worried about someone creaming you on the drive to the airport.
 
Jimmy cooper said:
Wow! How did you EVER dare to fly?! In fourty five years of flying there was never a fire ext. in any airplane I flew including rental planes, Stearman, 170, t crafts, shrike commander, aeronca champs, Mooneys, bonanzas, etc. On and on ad nauseum. As referenced before, why not use the one you keep in your car?
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So do we now belittle someone for wanting to take a safety precaution?
 
Gerhardt said:
If POA ever goes down in flames, it won't be because SZ shut down. And it won't be because there was no fire extinguisher available. It will be due to responses to innocent questions posed by new pilots.
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Yup. It's amazing.
 
Cirrus is coming out with cockpits that have sprinklers attached inside so you dont have to worry about your extinguisher for long.
 
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