This is an excerpt from a report made to the Aviation Safety Reporting System. The narrative is written by the pilot, rather than FAA or NTSB officials. To maintain anonymity, many details, such as aircraft model or airport, are often scrubbed from the reports.
So it was a normal flight starting at ZZZ1, flew to ZZZ2, ZZZ3, and then to ZZZ to drop off a friend really quick.
I shut the engine down and let my friend out near the terminal side of the airport. I them attempted to start back up to head for ZZZ1.
I turn the master switch on, mixture full, throttle a little opened, cranked the engine for 3 or 4 seconds. Plane didn’t start.
I thought it was a flooded engine so I did the flooded engine start. Pump off, mixture full out, and full throttle then I cranked again 3 or 4 seconds. It did not start.
I started to text my flight instructor to help me start the plane. In the middle I started smelling 100LL or the exhaust, which got worse. I sniffed out the side of the plane, started to smell plastic smoke, and thought it was weird, looked out the front and started seeing smoke come from the engine.
I did not think to start cranking the engine but I dropped everything and got out of the plane. I saw a raging fire from the engine. I grabbed the fire extinguisher from under the co-pilot seat and tried to put it out but that did not work so I sprinted to the terminal to get the airport manager. He came out to help put the fire out.
We assessed what happened. The battery didn’t go out and the mags and master were off, so we came to a conclusion that there was a battery short and there was an electrical fire, but that was just me, the airport manager, a flight instructor and his student, and the fuel guy.
I gave a report to airport ops and that has been sent in awaiting approval. I then called my flight instructor and told him what happened and I just waited by the plane till he got there.
I left the plane’s battery running because I couldn’t shut it down.
Primary Problem: Aircraft
ACN: 1838425
Yes, a poor description. Where the “batter” plays a big role is exactly similar to a PA-28 that burned to the ground at my home field a long while ago. A PPL candidate flew in to get a checkride, shut down and did the oral portion. After a couple of hours he tried to restart, using the “cold engine” sequence. It flooded and a subsequent attempt lit fuel pooled underneath on the tarmac. They panicked, and abandoned the plane, *leaving the electric fuel pump running*. A fire that would otherwise have burned itself out with minor damage was instead fed by the nearly-full fuel tanks. Not only was the plane destroyed, the incompetent fire truck driver bashed into two other planes and a big section of the ramp has to be repaved as well.
I can’t blame GAN for the wording of the article. This is exactly how the report is written, though the title should say pilot not student since the report doesn’t indicate level of certificate. But if I were an airplane and had a pilot like this I might be tempted to self immolate.
This was the more poorly written article I’ve seen on here. Other than there was a fire nothing else is clear or understandable.
“ I left the battery running” ???
Using a hand-held fire extinguisher actually requires training… which I suspect is missing from most pilot training courses… and even refresher/biannual training.
NOTE>>>>
I think the use of hand-held fire extinguishers for in-cockpit or out-of-cockpit [outside] fire-fighting emergencies is a worthy topic for one-or-more GAN articles.
Experience Flight Crew Total: 180.9
Experience Flight Crew Last 90 Days: 46.7
Experience Flight Crew Type: 12.6
Very “young sounding” vernacular, but with these hours, I would hope he/she is not still a Student Pilot Certificate Holder.
The stated PA-28 “starting procedures” are another matter…
If the master switch was shut off, there would be no power to the bus bar, so the part about “I left the battery running” doesn’t compute!
Texting his instructor implies he is a student, as does leaving the” battery running”. But maybe not.
I think their is more to the story? Starting procedures? I know of three airplane fires because the pilot was poorly trained by their instructors to use the throttle instead of the primer! If you pump the throttle you will get a fire when and if it back fires! No where in the POH does it say to pump the throttle to start the engine!
It doesn’t say “student” anywhere.
If you meant the actual ASRS report, you are right. But, I was referring to the article; the large, bold-print title clearly says, “Student’s flight ends with raging fire”. Basically, the title doesn’t accurately portray the content of the excerpt provided here or (apparently) the ASRS entry, which was the point I was trying to make.
The explanation and response to the fire leave me with several questions. But, setting that aside, why was a “student” “drop(ping) off a friend”?
Indeed I agree with You, CF, if the pilot was a student.