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

[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?

[hharney]

The flow was diverted to one cylinder by lack of resistance, to the broken line. Therefore the flow to each cylinder was greatly reduced. Hence the high EGT readings. Glad to hear you made down safely.

[Ernie Martin]

Aero-News.net is reporting that a restored B-17 has gone down in a cornfield near Chicago. In-flight fire shortly after takeoff. All seven people on board the aircraft survived, but the rare warbird was lost due to a post-crash fire.

No info yet on what caused the fire, but the wiring on older aircraft is prone to problems that can lead to a fire.

If you haven't already, please read the early messages on this thread, so that you may be prepared if the unthinkable happens.

Ernie

[Skymaster337B]

I don't think the old B-17s should be out flying around...those planes are of national historic significance. However, I've been saying for years that they should start building 2011 model B-17s. We won WWII faster than this war on terrorism using B-17s versus smart bombs. Don't get me wrong, we should use the latest technology in these new B-17s: glass cockpits, turbo-prop engines, GPS and INS navigation....but no smart bombs. Build 20,000 new B-17s and start the carpet bombing of the middle east and lets give them what the nazis got. Am I wrong?

[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