Spitfire Engine Fire - Jandakot, WA

[sseeker]

Today the 10th of July, Day 17 of my trip around Australia my beloved MK26 Spitfire tested the boundaries of our relationship. It was a cool windy morning in Jandakot, Western Australia, but otherwise the weather was ok. I had completed my routine pre-flight inspection and was ready for departure to Kalgoorlie. “Cleared for take-off runway 06R” said the tower.” “Cleared for take-off runway 06R, SFG” I replied. Looking down, I checked: temperatures and pressures in the green, compass and dg aligned, wind, crosswind from the right. We departed by the standard eastern departure, via Armidale at 1000 feet and operations were normal.At 25 nautical miles from Janadakot the Spitfire decided to test all I had learnt in my aviation career. She decided to do this at 3000 feet, over Mount Dale, surrounded by heavily forested terrain and beyond the Spit’s glide performance to a suitable landing area. One emergency I had dreamt I would never have to consider was boiling up under the hood of my Spit. With no warning, her engine exhausted streams of smoke from here 12 exhaust pipes down the sides of her fuse.

 

A couple days earlier I was discussing with Peter Raffles (who is flying the Jabiru with my father and also owns a Spitfire) how a display smoke system on our Spitfire’s exhaust would look. I can confidently illustrate to him what this would look like as this image is now forged into my head.

 

With no hesitation I resorted to the emergency checks I had been taught and teach on a regular basis. Initial emergency checks were completed, no flames were evident from beneath the cowling and the engine appeared to be running normal, aside from the two large plumes of smoke trailing down her fuse. I quickly decided plan A was to return to Jandakot (the closest airfield) on her injured engine. Plan B; if a serious engine fire started I would place the aircraft into a dive in an attempt to extinguish the fire. If that was the case I was hoping I would still have sufficient height to reach the banks of the Canning dam where I would ditch the aircraft, wheels up! And extinguish the aircraft fire and myself! Something I really did not want to do, but these were my options, and this was a real emergency!

 

Remaining calm I made the following transmission to Perth Centre “Mayday, Mayday, Mayday, Spitfire SFG is 25 nautical miles east of Jandakot 3000 feet, experiencing an engine fire, 1 POB, tracking direct Jandakot.” The air traffic controller responded with “SFG track direct Jandakot, you have priority, emergency services have been alerted”.

 

Maintaining 3000 feet I continued to track direct to Jandakot. At this point in time the smoke from the engine began to decrease, with no obvious clues on the engine instrumentation as to what was causing the smoke. I now turned to my sensory receptors for help with analysis. Briefly opening a cabin vent I attempted to smell the dark nature of the smoke. It smelt like burning oil.

 

Earlier in the trip I had a small oil leak from the oil pressure gauge and my initial thoughts were that oil may have been leaking onto the engine and causing the smoke, but this does not explain smoke from the exhaust. The smoke was coming from within the engine and the aircraft needed to be landed ASAP, before the engine destroyed itself!

 

At this point in time I had passed Canning Dam and Jandakot was in sight, but still beyond the glide distance of my Spit. I was now approaching the built up area of Armadale and the new forced landing fields included the fairways of Golf courses. These are generally well maintained!

 

Travelling at 150 knots, in several seconds Jandakot was within gliding distance. A strong believer of “it ain’t over until the fat lady sings” I was giving myself as much margin as possible. I continued to maintain 3000 feet until overhead the field then conducted an approach well within my glide distance. PUFF checks completed and wheels touched down on runway 06L.

 

As there were no flames and or smoke coming from the engine the severity of the emergency was downgraded and in formal chat with a fire fighter was all that was required.

 

Back on the ground myself, Dad and Peter Raffles thoroughly analysed the engine. Once the cowls were off it was evident the engine had induced a significant amount of oil through the air intake. This may be the result of a damaged piston ring, but a leak down test tomorrow will reveal more information.

 

Although the spit has tested my faith in her, my love for her is far stronger. I will endeavour to put us both back in the air and re-join the rest of Wings of Life crew.

 

A love story to be continued….

Story From: http://wingsoflife.com.au/blog/1519

 

-Andrew

 

 

[Tomo]

Great to hear that all ended fairly well, to what could have been quite a disaster.

 

Doug is a great fella, not all that much older than me I don't think, I did my initial GA training in the same place he did his.

 

 

[Exadios]

A fire in the air is by fair the scariest thing I can think of! Well done in maintaining your cool. Good that things turned out OK.

 

 

[Guest Andys@coffs]

Ok, so heres a question of ethics for you:-

 

If he puts the aircraft down in the Caning dam the the fire obviously extinguishes and the aircraft can probably be salvaged and rebuilt, at the same time he has potentially polluted the Perth water supply.

 

On the otherhand if he puts it down in a paddock and the fire is a continuing fire (he had no idea if it was or wasnt at the time) then he doesnt pollute the Perth water supply but does potentially loose the aircraft to fire as the rural firemen work out where he is and what to do about it...

 

So, what do you do?

 

Andy

 

 

[rgmwa]

Ok, so heres a question of ethics for you:-If he puts the aircraft down in the Caning dam the the fire obviously extinguishes and the aircraft can probably be salvaged and rebuilt, at the same time he has potentially polluted the Perth water supply.

On the otherhand if he puts it down in a paddock and the fire is a continuing fire (he had no idea if it was or wasnt at the time) then he doesnt pollute the Perth water supply but does potentially loose the aircraft to fire as the rural firemen work out where he is and what to do about it...

 

So, what do you do?

 

Andy

Frankly, if I was in that situation, I wouldn't be pondering the ethics of where to put it down. I'd be heading for the most survivable crash site.

 

Good story Andrew. Thanks for posting.

 

rgmwa

 

 

[facthunter]

Survive first. Sort out the details later. The priorities are obvious. Fire in flight is very serious. The priority is to get it on the ground as soon as possible. That is a generally accepted fact. Nev

 

 

[winsor68]

Perhaps plan a bit better too... being at 3000 feet without even a crash landing option left for an engine failure... I am guessing he won't do that again without an ejection seat... Well done on handling the situation after it was allowed to arise.

 

 

[sseeker]

Controlled airspace... He's GA, but the spit is amateur built. No idea what legal implications that has.

 

Guys c'mon... He did a really good job, put yourself in the situation where there's a fire infront of your A/C and imagine the stress and pressure you'd be under. A fire is probably the worst thing that could possibly happen!

 

Just on a further note, if you want to depart to the East of Jandakot you must depart via Armadale then Canning Dam. Just punch into Google Maps "Canning Dam, WA Australia" and look at the surroundings. It's a mandatory departure point and look at its surroundings. If you wanna go East, have confidence in your engine, cause you haven't got many options!

 

-Andrew

 

 

[Guest Andys@coffs]

Guys

 

I wasnt questioning in any way what he did, but you must understand that once the emergency is over the lawyers will feel exactly zero compunction to give you a free ride because there was some a%s puckering involved.

 

So while I posted as I did above, and others said dont worry about it, fly the plane (correct in terms of prioritising), your insurance policy has a limited public liability amount and as such its something to ponder at some time (which is what this forum is all abou isnt it?).

 

Perhaps if forced to fly over that particular point at that particular altitude then teh regulator might have some part to play as well, though I suspect the endless pockets and lawyers on a leash that they have will deter most looking for an easy ride...

 

Andy

 

 

[Allegro2000]

Guys,

 

The thought of losing a Mk 26 let alone the pilot does not bear thinking. We have to be all thankful for a calm and decisive head, as a result a Mk26 and a pilot lives to fly again.

 

Allegro 2000

 

 

[sseeker]

It's an 80% scale.

 

-Andrew

 

 

[turboplanner]

What engine?

 

 

[sseeker]

Lycoming IO-360.

 

-Andrew

 

 

[turboplanner]

Say a Piper Arrow or C172S - smoke coming from all exhausts a bit unusual, will be interesting to find out the cause. Good steady thinking when it happened though.

 

ATSB did a series on airborne fires and the best actions. Haven't got the time to look it up but it was interesting, the decision parth on oil, electrical, or fuel fire and things you can do to delay the inevitable until you find a place to land.

 

 

[ave8rr]

The engine is a Isuzu 3.5L V6 converted for aircraft use. This engine is fitted with a cog belt drive PSRU. Latter versions have a fully cast gear PSRU. http://www.supermarineaircraft.com/V6%20Engine.htm

 

Cheers

 

 

[sseeker]

Ave8rr,

 

This website has different things to say...

 

http://www.regosearch.com/aircraft/au/SFG

 

"No. Engines: 1

 

Manufacturer: TEXTRON LYCOMING

 

Type: Piston

 

Model: IO-360

 

Fuel: Gasoline"

 

 

[ave8rr]

Ave8rr,This website has different things to say...

 

http://www.regosearch.com/aircraft/au/SFG

 

"No. Engines: 1

 

Manufacturer: TEXTRON LYCOMING

 

Type: Piston

 

Model: IO-360

 

Fuel: Gasoline"

Hi, I was with this aircraft (VH-SFG) in Kununurra two weekends back and it has the V6 engine with belt drive PSRU. They were even carrying a spare reduction belt in Ron Fields (SFG owner's) J230. Dont always believe what is on regosearch.com. Even the CASA rego search gets it wrong. I have a friend with a Vans RV6A shown as a RV6!

 

cheers

 

 

[Yenn]

It is a real Spitfire. The designer bought the trade name, so it is the real thing, even if the real thing is a copy.

 

 

[sseeker]

I'd say rego search has the engine information from the prior VH-SFG which was a Piper Pawnee... A guy at my aerodrome owns a Thorp and it shows on the CASA registry as having a retract gear, but it doesn't... No idea how they goofed that one.

 

-Andrew

 

 

[facthunter]

They have ways ......sseeker....If we did it it would be a stipulated fine. An offence of strict liability... Nev

 

 

[Teckair]

News flash guys, smoke from the exhaust does indicate a engine problem but not a fire problem. I imagine not likely related to piston rings but if the the engine is fitted with a turbo charger that could be a possibility.

 

Regards Richard.

 

 

[PapaFox]

I'd say rego search has the engine information from the prior VH-SFG which was a Piper Pawnee...

Except that Pawnee was only 150hp O320 powered. Used to be the glider tug here many moons ago

 

 

[kaz3g]

Controlled airspace... He's GA, but the spit is amateur built. No idea what legal implications that has.

Shouldn't be any... "SFG" is a VH rego

 

kaz

 

 

[sseeker]

He's in an experimental aircraft. Chances are non approved engine & possibly no transponder. I'm also not sure if CASA imposes any restrictions on experimental GA aircraft in controlled airspace, especially since most aren't LAME maintained.

 

-Andrew

 

 

[rgmwa]

He's in an experimental aircraft. Chances are non approved engine & possibly no transponder. I'm also not sure if CASA imposes any restrictions on experimental GA aircraft in controlled airspace, especially since most aren't LAME maintained.-Andrew

There are plenty of VH experimental aircraft based at Jandakot and flying in controlled airspace. Quite a few RV's for example, and it's also the home of Chapter 24 of the SAAA.

 

rgmwa