In-Flight Fire – Maybe in the Rear Engine You Can’t See

[hharney]

Returning from the Bahamas in 2007, we had just attended the SOAPA event. Larry and I were flying with Jerry in his G model P337. We were on the first domestic leg from Ft. Pierce to a small airport in Southern Kentucky (can't remember the name now). I was in the rear and I was hearing some kind of knock or something. I had mentioned that I thought I heard something but Larry and Jerry didn't seem to hear it yet. Again, we are at Flt Level 100, we all have headsets on, in one of those noisy Skymasters and it's a pressurized cabin. I am hearing some kind of noise that is coming from the rear or bottom of the plane.

All of a sudden a loud quick knock gets the attention of everyone in the cabin. See I told you I heard something, I thought. Within a few seconds I could smell oil, burnt oil or hot oil. Jerry immediately called center and said that we needed down now. Center told us that Athens, GA was just a few miles on right and told us to squawk 1200 and call Athens. Ok, just drop us then. Anyway, one of the bolts for the rocker arm broke and the rocker made a hole in the cover. You will have to search the SOAPA Bahamas thread to see the photos and story about the amazing repair that day, in Athens, on a Saturday.

You can definitely smell hot stuff in the rear engine from the back seat, right away. We had no fire,

[Ernie Martin]

No, there is no data on any fire in the rear-engine compartment of a Skymaster. My research was generally about in-flight fires in GA aircraft, with two noteworthy findings: how little time between first hint and unrecoverable condition (average 7 minutes), and that the more likely location for a fire in older aircraft is in the wiring behind the panel (hence my suggestions on smoke masks and halon extnguishers).

The points made above that air flow in the compartment may preclude fires is interesting and worth pursuing. Maybe there is no cause for my concern about a raging fire while you keep on flying. The fact that Cessna added fire detection on O2s but failed to incorporate it on subsequent 337 models (G and H) may suggest that Cessna did not deem a fire a likely event in non-combat conditions -- after all, the design was done, so adding it would have had little impact on cost or weight.

Ernie

[Guy Paris]

Gentlemen, what is the consensus,
what would be the best kind of mask to get?

Guy, the old 72 driver....

[jchronic]

Guy -

I purchased four of the PARAT C hoods from Aircraft Spruce at about $150 each. Not cheap and I think there are others at less cost (and less capability). I got them for my whole survey crew, but my feeling is that there should be at least one on board so the pilot can get the plane down.

BTW, my neighbor George Breen, your old airline colleague said to say hello if we ever 'talked' on the web site.

Best regards -
Joe Chronic

[Guy Paris]

Joe,

Small world, say hello to George for me and thanks for the info on the PARAT C hoods.
Were you in at the Falmouth Air park recently? My daughter said there was a Skymaster
in warbird paint there recently.

Keep the blue side up, Guy....

[jchronic]

Guy -

In my case, it would be keep the olive drab side up; the airplane in warbird paint is mine.Bought it last fall to do some marine survey work here on Cape Cod. Two owners ago had it dolled up like a replica O2 and the guy I bought it from (retired USMC COL) kept it that way. A 'normal' repaint is on the agenda this year. (Per my questions on another thread)

For everybody - back to the fire in flight/smoke in the cabin theme - something else to think about while you're getting the airplane safely on the ground ASAP is taking some smoke evacuation action: Maybe opening the pilot vent window, having a right-seater crack the entry door, a passenger crack the baggage door, etc. You pressurized guys might want to dump the cabin and get some air flowing through when able. Each situation likely to be a little different.........

Joe

[jhickam]

Two weeks ago on a bfr flight my rear engine began running rough and the egt began to climb at a rate of 25 degrees per second. We were close to the airport so I powered back the rear engine to lower the egt temp and proceeded to land without incident. Once on the ground we did a runup and the rear engine was running very rough and still the egt temps would increase at 1800 rpm.

This flight could have had a very different outcome based on what the shop found to be the problem. It was a fuel injection line broke completly off at the injector spraying fuel in the engine compartment. We were very lucky this time.

My question is would one broken line reduce fuel flow to the other cylinders creating a lean mixture causing the egt to increase?

Any other ideas what might make the egt increase?

[Don Nieser]

I have some complete 0-2 rear engine compartment fire detector systems.
Don Nieser
Commodore Aerospace Corp
405-503-4686
nieser.02.337parts@juno.com
www.02337parts.com

[WebMaster]

Thanks, Don