Flight Training - March/April 2022 - 8

UNUSUAL ATTITUDE BY DAVE HIRSCHMAN
Editor at Large DAVE HIRSCHMAN has
been unapologetically wearing military
surplus Nomex flight suits in aerobatic
airplanes and warbirds for many years.
Their only shortcoming, he says, is that
they shrink over time. The ones he wore
a decade ago are now unbearably tight
around the middle.
dave.hirschman@aopa.org
the ground, and was pulled to safety
just as the airplane was consumed by
fire. Cook suffered extensive burns on
40 percent of his body, endured a twomonth
medically induced coma and 15
weeks of intensive care, and has had
multiple surgeries and skin grafts that
are still ongoing.
Some of his lessons learned are
particular to warbirds: wear Nomex
gloves on every flight; make sure there's
a quick-disconnect cord for your helmet;
and practice emergency egress while
wearing a parachute. Other lessons,
however, apply to all GA aircraft: know
your airplane's systems and emergency
checklists by heart-especially those that
pertain to fire. And be ready to pull the
mixture knob and the fuel selector to Off
to shut down the engine in flight to prevent
an engine-driven fuel or hydraulic
pump from creating a catastrophic fire.
Once the fire started, Cook was so
focused on flying and landing the aircraft
that he didn't consider pulling the mixture
knob or cutting off the fuel supply.
And frankly, in his retelling of the story,
neither did I.
IN-FLIGHT FIRE
Here's an emergency checklist item that pilots almost never
practice-but it's a potential life saver.
The item I'm referring to is intentionally shutting down the engine in flight by
pulling the mixture knob (and turning the fuel selector to Off). It's listed in just
about every piston-engine checklist I've ever seen as the correct response to an
in-flight fire-but we seldom practice it for obvious reasons.
Shutting down the airplane's one and only engine and becoming a not-verygood
glider is a perilous emergency in its own right. But in rare cases of in-flight
fire, it may be the only choice-and we may not have much time to think about it.
Chuck Cook, a Minnesota warbird pilot who survived a fire in his T-28 Trojan,
shared some insights from the incident that apply to general aviation pilots, too.
Cook was flying his Trojan on a sunny summer day when a warning light signaled
that the airplane's generator had failed. He headed back to his home airport
at Anoka County-Blaine (ANE) and faintly smelled something burning, which he
attributed to smoke from a distant wildfire.
He entered the traffic pattern for landing and deployed the aircraft's speed
brake. As soon as he did, the cockpit filled with smoke. He opened the bubble canopy
and lowered the landing gear, and then a roaring fire consumed the cockpit.
He was only 15 seconds from touchdown at that point, but the fire was so fierce
that he might as well have been many miles away. His flame-resistant Nomex
flight suit helped, but it wasn't nearly enough to protect him from extensive
burns, and his feet, legs, and unprotected hands got the worst of it.
He crashed onto the airport grounds, crawled out of the cockpit and fell to
8
FLIGHT TRAINING MARCH/APRIL 2022
Pulling the mixture to idle cutoff
and the fuel selector to Off might not
have been enough to extinguish the fire.
But it could have stopped the flow of
fuel to the engine, and interrupted the
circulation of hydraulic fluid throughout
the landing gear, speed brake, and
flap systems.
Pilots in emergencies revert to
the things we know and practice. We
typically think about how to keep the
propeller turning and critical systems
operating, and we practice them by
switching fuel tanks, turning on fuel
pumps, opening the alternate air door,
or applying carburetor heat. We seldom
practice intentionally shutting down the
engine to prevent or extinguish a fire.
But after hearing Cook and thinking
about the dire situation he found himself
in, I'm going to focus on dealing with an
in-flight fire during the quiet moments I sit
in the cockpit alone, reviewing emergency
checklist items. And I'm going to practice
them in the simulator at high altitude
during cruise, and low altitude during the
approach and landing phase. FT
To hear Chuck Cook describe the T-28
fire in his own words, listen to the There I
Was... podcast Episode 18.
airsafetyinstitute.org/thereiwas
http://www.airsafetyinstitute.org/thereiwas

Flight Training - March/April 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Flight Training - March/April 2022

Contents
Flight Training - March/April 2022 - Intro
Flight Training - March/April 2022 - Cover1
Flight Training - March/April 2022 - Cover2
Flight Training - March/April 2022 - Contents
Flight Training - March/April 2022 - 2
Flight Training - March/April 2022 - 3
Flight Training - March/April 2022 - 4
Flight Training - March/April 2022 - 5
Flight Training - March/April 2022 - 6
Flight Training - March/April 2022 - 7
Flight Training - March/April 2022 - 8
Flight Training - March/April 2022 - 9
Flight Training - March/April 2022 - 10
Flight Training - March/April 2022 - 11
Flight Training - March/April 2022 - 12
Flight Training - March/April 2022 - 13
Flight Training - March/April 2022 - 14
Flight Training - March/April 2022 - 15
Flight Training - March/April 2022 - 16
Flight Training - March/April 2022 - 17
Flight Training - March/April 2022 - 18
Flight Training - March/April 2022 - 19
Flight Training - March/April 2022 - 20
Flight Training - March/April 2022 - 21
Flight Training - March/April 2022 - 22
Flight Training - March/April 2022 - 23
Flight Training - March/April 2022 - 24
Flight Training - March/April 2022 - 25
Flight Training - March/April 2022 - 26
Flight Training - March/April 2022 - 27
Flight Training - March/April 2022 - 28
Flight Training - March/April 2022 - 29
Flight Training - March/April 2022 - 30
Flight Training - March/April 2022 - 31
Flight Training - March/April 2022 - 32
Flight Training - March/April 2022 - 33
Flight Training - March/April 2022 - 34
Flight Training - March/April 2022 - 35
Flight Training - March/April 2022 - 36
Flight Training - March/April 2022 - 37
Flight Training - March/April 2022 - 38
Flight Training - March/April 2022 - 39
Flight Training - March/April 2022 - 40
Flight Training - March/April 2022 - 41
Flight Training - March/April 2022 - 42
Flight Training - March/April 2022 - 43
Flight Training - March/April 2022 - 44
Flight Training - March/April 2022 - 45
Flight Training - March/April 2022 - 46
Flight Training - March/April 2022 - 47
Flight Training - March/April 2022 - 48
Flight Training - March/April 2022 - 49
Flight Training - March/April 2022 - 50
Flight Training - March/April 2022 - 51
Flight Training - March/April 2022 - 52
Flight Training - March/April 2022 - 53
Flight Training - March/April 2022 - 54
Flight Training - March/April 2022 - 55
Flight Training - March/April 2022 - 56
Flight Training - March/April 2022 - Cover3
Flight Training - March/April 2022 - Cover4
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