Forest fire smoke a problem?

bflynn

bflynn

Final Approach
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Brian Flynn
Might be overthinking this. Is the forest fire smoke a problem for engines? I don't know how much particulate matter gets ingested from smoke, but it has to be something, right?
 
Not sure about smoke, but I've worried when we get the Saharan dust clouds in Texas. It leaves a layer of dust on the wings and struts. The air filter should be filtering it out, but I'm not certain.
 
Flying around the PNW in the summers, during active fire seasons I see slightly elevated Si in my UOA.
I'm more concerned about what the smoke does to my own health, than the engine or airplane.
 
I too have encountered smoke in the PNW summers. I don't worry much about the engine or my health, but at times I have been concerned about visibility, particularly at low sun angles.
 
Blame Canada lol
I mean what’s up with the fires and sky clear IMC flying days.
 
Smoke from wildfire is particulate pollution, so it isn't that big of a deal. Unless the air was just so bad that there wasn't enough oxygen to combust the fuel, which I feel would be unlikely and in which case, you wouldn’t be able to withstand it physically either. It’s not ideal, but I don’t think it poses enough of an issue to worry about.
 
Domenick said:
I too have encountered smoke in the PNW summers. I don't worry much about the engine or my health, but at times I have been concerned about visibility, particularly at low sun angles.
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Indeed. Smoke from wildfires can create conditions that are VFR in name only, and IFR for all practical purposes. Similar to the FAA "moonless night" letter.
 
If it's good enough for my lungs, it's good enough for my engine... but I ain't flying in 1-2sm vis here in our fair city today.
 
I don’t think it’s that big of a deal. Maybe if it’s a fire fighting aircraft that flys in heavy smoke on a regular basis. . We use these filters below on the helo. The company seems to think it’s important to have flying in smoke but smoke (wood) is right at the limit (1 micron) of what the filter is capable of filtering. Maybe more engine flushes but I don’t see any serious problem with turbines. My personal plane, I don’t fly enough for it to matter.

https://helicoptermaintenancemagazine.com/article/shielding-your-engine-performance-killers
 
The smoke is almost like a cloud or fog and can reduce viability. I just go around it if I can.
 
It’s only bad for my engine if I can’t fly, or if I do fly and hit something that I couldn’t see :p

In the Midwest, flying midweek was murky at 2,500 AGL.
 
MRC01 said:
Indeed. Smoke from wildfires can create conditions that are VFR in name only, and IFR for all practical purposes. Similar to the FAA "moonless night" letter.
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Yeap, took off from NE MD this morning. I logged some Actual Instrument due to NO horizon. The only thing you could see looking almost straight down.
 
In summer, it's easy to lose the horizon over the water on a *good* day...
 
Pinecone said:
Yeap, took off from NE MD this morning. I logged some Actual Instrument due to NO horizon. The only thing you could see looking almost straight down.
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That's another interesting point. Under certain conditions, a pilot flying VFR can log actual instrument time while in legal VMC. The FAA moonless night letter describes one example. Forest fire smoke could create another.
Disclaimer: I don't recommend this, just stating an interesting part of the regulations.
 
Never heard a single report of our typical 4-6 cyl light aircraft engines being damaged by forest fire smoke.
I'm in SW Texas and we've had our share of bonafide imc-must file days due solely to AZ/NM or Mexican fires.
 
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