Sinistar
En-Route
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- Sep 9, 2016
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Display name:
Brad
TLDR Version: No one was hurt, not major and the pilot eventually flew it afterwards. It was a eye opener.
On Friday I was planning to fly down to our mechanic's and then give a friend a ride back after he dropped off his plane for annual. But everytime the TAF updated the high crosswind and gusts kept moving up. So I told my friend I'd drive down and pick him up instead. Plus my gut was telling me he would be running late (gut was right).
Well, he shows up about 30 minutes late but no big deal I have the day off. He was pretty tired from working a late shift and forgot to plug it in the night before. Since it was a cold start I figured I'd better wait to drive out until I see he gets it started.
About 8 or 9 sets of prime and crank and I see a fire start coming out around the exhaust pipe. And just a bit of smoke coming out of the air filter. I start waving my hands for him to stop. He does and I yell "Fire". I go to run into his hangar to get the fire extinguisher but he locked it thinking he was flying out. He quick hops out, unlocks the door and I grab the extinguisher. I am pretty sure he shut off the fuel but not positive so I mention it as we run back. The fire is no longer visible so he cracks open the top cowling (no tools needed - nice!). No fire. The air cleaner looks good so no major fire in the carb.
So he looked it over really good, buttoned things up. Waited a bit and of course it starts on the first try after a starter click for dramatic effect. He idled while I awaited another adventure but he was good, circled the pattern once and departed
Our mechanic gave him some grief. Later he walked up to the air filter and tried to poke his finger through but the fire wasn't bad enough to crispy it. Then he asked why he didn't preheat...worked late, overslept. Then he asked how he pre-heats...he puts a small electric heater in the top cowling cover. The mechanic and I both cringed. The mechanic then tells him of the plane fire he had to work through after someone used the old light bulb trick and the 100LL got to know electricity a bit too well. He looked at the mechanic like "well thats dumb, I use electric heater not a light bulb"
Several things were interesting to ponder afterwards:
1. The pilot had no clue his plane was on fire. I am sure he would have eventually seen it but for the first 10 seconds it was bright orange flames down below out of sight and very little smoke.
2. I usually push in 4 shots to start the 182 and he was only using a single shot of primer for the 150. I thought he was going to tell me he gave it 10 shots or something crazy. Nope. Just 8 or 9 sets of a single shot followed by cranking it. I didn't think it was possible to get a fire from single shots. Maybe he was adding way too much throttle or something?
3. He didn't grab an extinguisher as he hopped out. I can see that happening if your instinct is to get out.
4. The extinguishers in the hangars are chemical. We recently updated to a Halon (or whatever is the latest). So I would think if you a fire you'd probably be wishing you shot halon in there first and not the dry chemical if the fire turned out to not be a big deal.
5. Its a creepy sound. That little whoosh as it started on fire right after he finished cranking. Like lighting a gas grill.
6. On his last 2 cranks the starter clicked first each time so his battery was getting weak. Which also meant there was no way for him to start the engine to consume the fire. Our POH spends several words on keeping it running or cranking if there is a fire. This guy would not have been able to do that with the battery so low.
7. Dang it would be nice to have a plane where you can easily look into the engine with a hinged cover vs a crap load of fasteners and then remove a cowling.
I'm curious after the annual is done if there is actually any damage? Hopefully for my friend its as simple as excess fuel caught on fire while dripping down the exhaust pipe or something.
On Friday I was planning to fly down to our mechanic's and then give a friend a ride back after he dropped off his plane for annual. But everytime the TAF updated the high crosswind and gusts kept moving up. So I told my friend I'd drive down and pick him up instead. Plus my gut was telling me he would be running late (gut was right).
Well, he shows up about 30 minutes late but no big deal I have the day off. He was pretty tired from working a late shift and forgot to plug it in the night before. Since it was a cold start I figured I'd better wait to drive out until I see he gets it started.
About 8 or 9 sets of prime and crank and I see a fire start coming out around the exhaust pipe. And just a bit of smoke coming out of the air filter. I start waving my hands for him to stop. He does and I yell "Fire". I go to run into his hangar to get the fire extinguisher but he locked it thinking he was flying out. He quick hops out, unlocks the door and I grab the extinguisher. I am pretty sure he shut off the fuel but not positive so I mention it as we run back. The fire is no longer visible so he cracks open the top cowling (no tools needed - nice!). No fire. The air cleaner looks good so no major fire in the carb.
So he looked it over really good, buttoned things up. Waited a bit and of course it starts on the first try after a starter click for dramatic effect. He idled while I awaited another adventure but he was good, circled the pattern once and departed
Our mechanic gave him some grief. Later he walked up to the air filter and tried to poke his finger through but the fire wasn't bad enough to crispy it. Then he asked why he didn't preheat...worked late, overslept. Then he asked how he pre-heats...he puts a small electric heater in the top cowling cover. The mechanic and I both cringed. The mechanic then tells him of the plane fire he had to work through after someone used the old light bulb trick and the 100LL got to know electricity a bit too well. He looked at the mechanic like "well thats dumb, I use electric heater not a light bulb"
Several things were interesting to ponder afterwards:
1. The pilot had no clue his plane was on fire. I am sure he would have eventually seen it but for the first 10 seconds it was bright orange flames down below out of sight and very little smoke.
2. I usually push in 4 shots to start the 182 and he was only using a single shot of primer for the 150. I thought he was going to tell me he gave it 10 shots or something crazy. Nope. Just 8 or 9 sets of a single shot followed by cranking it. I didn't think it was possible to get a fire from single shots. Maybe he was adding way too much throttle or something?
3. He didn't grab an extinguisher as he hopped out. I can see that happening if your instinct is to get out.
4. The extinguishers in the hangars are chemical. We recently updated to a Halon (or whatever is the latest). So I would think if you a fire you'd probably be wishing you shot halon in there first and not the dry chemical if the fire turned out to not be a big deal.
5. Its a creepy sound. That little whoosh as it started on fire right after he finished cranking. Like lighting a gas grill.
6. On his last 2 cranks the starter clicked first each time so his battery was getting weak. Which also meant there was no way for him to start the engine to consume the fire. Our POH spends several words on keeping it running or cranking if there is a fire. This guy would not have been able to do that with the battery so low.
7. Dang it would be nice to have a plane where you can easily look into the engine with a hinged cover vs a crap load of fasteners and then remove a cowling.
I'm curious after the annual is done if there is actually any damage? Hopefully for my friend its as simple as excess fuel caught on fire while dripping down the exhaust pipe or something.
