.... There are a couple of episodes in E K Gann's book "Fate is the Hunter" that deal with his experiences.
Thanks for sharing!Ferrying a Twin Comanche from Florida to California. At Houston it grew dark enough to turn on panel, position and strobes, and across desolate West Texas I smelled what seemed like chaff from cut wheat. Then it became like smoke smell from a forest fire, but I couldn't see brush burning anywhere, and then I smelled an acrid smell of an electrical fire. Uh oh!
I turned off the master switch and the smell dissipated so minutes later I turned the master back on, all systems off except one NavCom, and I contacted ATC (which had me on flight following) and notified the problem and that I was continuing without radio contact. El Paso was 120 miles away with a glimmer on the horizon so when I was on descent I turned the master and NavCom back on, they gave me an immediate clearance, I lowered the gear just fine, turned the master off again, and had an uneventful landing.
The next morning I trouble shot the system and found that the post lights have wires with a plastic sleeve over them, and one had rubbed against a screw head in the panel which had (in 4,000 hours) penetrated the plastic sleeve and chose that flight to arc and start a plastic fire.
Turns out my landing light controller burned up, it was charred black. I don't know if there were any flames but I didn't see any evidence of any around it.
It can be quiet discerning and stressful.
Very good advice! If you've ever been in the burn unit watching them pick balls of synthetic fabric that melted into the patients skin, you'll never wear synthetics anywhere that might expose you to fire again! I might wear shorts (Florida), but they are cotton, my socks are cotton, my shirt is cotton. Tennis shoes - yea, I wear them, but I think about it every time.One thing that can make it less harrowing is the proper choice of attire when flying. WW II pilots basically wore leather and cotton clothing and had gloves and goggles that could resist heat as well as cold. That may not be practical for us, but you might want to avoid synthetic fabrics that melt and tennis shoes that don't resist heat well. Shorts are riskier than full pants/slacks. These guidelines are helpful in allowing for less injury in the air and for evacuation on the ground, even for commercial flying.
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