REFLECTOR: Ouch

Mon Jul 30 11:25:43 CDT 2012

Jack Morrison lost his controls very quickly when his first e-Racer burnt
up, but it was a fuel-driven fire.  The old [LINK:
showthread.php?p=23891&posted=1] Canard Zone had his account of it, but
it's gone unfortunately, but within a couple of minutes he was over the
runway with smoke in the cockpit and not ailerons.

Brett

	-------Original Message-------
  From: Alex Balic
  To: 'Velocity Aircraft Owners and Builders list'
  Subject: Re: REFLECTOR: Ouch
  Sent: 30 Jul '12 09:40

Halon is still available- got mine from Summit Racing I think. I guess the
potential of possibly damaging a few ozone molecules is outweighed by loss
of life thankfully

I have my nozzles pointing at the intake area/fuel rails, and the
turbocharger area- my top intakes feed my oil & PSRU coolers through scat
tubing, and the turbo intercooler on the other side, so it would be
difficult to get any going in there, but also unlikely that the fire would
be there either. I think that 3 pounds will be enough to extinguish any
fire as long as the cowling is not breached by the time I pull the release,
those little cameras are pretty inexpensive these days, so if I get a temp
alarm back there, I can flip it on and see what is what.

At least in the velocity an engine fire would not come into the pilot’s
area of the cabin very quickly, although, aileron control might be
affected- or maybe not- I think that the problem is that the liner melts
and when it cools, it locks up the ailerons, if it is still hot might be
OK, would be interesting to see if Teleflex has ever tested that

FROM: reflector-bounces at tvbf.org [mailto:reflector-bounces at tvbf.org] ON
BEHALF OF nmflyer1 at aol.com
SENT: Monday, July 30, 2012 12:16 AM
TO: reflector at tvbf.org
SUBJECT: Re: REFLECTOR: Ouch

I like the idea of a fire suppression system as well. In talking with the
pilot, he didn't even know he had a fire until he landed. The engine quit
and the flames started just as he turned off the end of the runway. All he
knew is that he smelled some "hot oil", then started down for the airport.
A witness watching the landing said there was not even any smoke until the
end of the runway, then a second or two later.. fire.

I was there talking with the FAA as they did the inspection of the
wreckage. Only thing they found was some questionable fittings that were
loose. They acknowledged that the looseness could have come from the heat
of the fire... or been there prior. Fittings right next to the loose ones
were tight... so that leads to some doubts on the tightness of the oil
fittings next to the turbo.

Kurt

-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Magee <[LINK: mailto:edjonesbrady at gmail.com]
edjonesbrady at gmail.com>
To: Velocity Aircraft Owners and Builders list <[LINK:
mailto:reflector at tvbf.org] reflector at tvbf.org>
Sent: Sun, Jul 29, 2012 8:56 pm
Subject: Re: REFLECTOR: Ouch

Hi Alex,
You are a man after my own heart. There is little worse for a pilot than an
in-flight fire. They're quite rare, but might ruin a whole day. We used
Halon extensively in the Navy, unbelievably effective. I thought Halon fire
suppressant been outlawed but just checked and found them still available.
I may follow your lead and have a Halon bottle trained on my engine
compartment with heat sensors. I'll have to study this: the ram air for the
cylinders does present a problem with any fire-suppressant flooding
technique for an aircraft engine compartment. Ideally the ram air feeds
would also need Halon nozzles, as well as the 'static' air in the engine
compartment. Don't know if the concentration in the ram-air would be
sufficient to quench.  I would think nozzles aimed at the FI distributor
block and other usual suspects for an engine compartment fire would be
appropriate. I would be interested in seeing your nozzle outlay.
Yes, this one ended well for the pilot, not so much his bird.
Mark Magee
N34XL

On Sun, Jul 29, 2012 at 7:03 PM, Alex Balic <[LINK:
mailto:velocity_pilot at verizon.net] velocity_pilot at verizon.net> wrote:

I am a little bit paranoid about something like that happening, so I have
the heat sensors, and a 3 pound halon bottle plumbed to the engine
compartment-might even add camera for the inside of the compartment - at
least the pilot got out OK

FROM: [LINK: mailto:reflector-bounces at tvbf.org] reflector-bounces at tvbf.org
[mailto:[LINK: mailto:reflector-bounces at tvbf.org]
reflector-bounces at tvbf.org] ON BEHALF OF [LINK: mailto:nmflyer1 at aol.com]
nmflyer1 at aol.com
SENT: Sunday, July 29, 2012 2:52 PM
TO: [LINK: mailto:reflector at tvbf.org] reflector at tvbf.org
SUBJECT: REFLECTOR: Ouch

Back from OSH last night. This morning had to go help clean up this sad
situation. Cozy Mk III with a torbo rotary engine. Smelled oil and headed
back on flt #6. Unfortunately, as he was turning off the runway, things gor
worse. At least he is fine.

Kurt

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