Piper PA28 catches fire while preparing for take-off in Florida.

[red750]

The pilot of a Piper Cherokee smelled smoke while taxying for take-off at Venice Airport Florida. He and his passenger disembarked to check the source of the smoke, and the plane burst into flames and was destroyed.

 

 

 

Both pilot and passenger were uninjured.

 

 

[Marty_d]

Good outcome.  Better then than half an hour later.

 

 

[onetrack]

Be interesting to see any information as regards recent servicing, particularly in the fuel system/supply areas.

 

 

[pmccarthy]

My primer was disconnected by a PO. I have been warned that priming with throttle is not a good idea with an updraft carby.

 

 

[facthunter]

You are much more likely to start a grass fire when starting/priming with the older injection systems. The Piper Commanche's have bladder tanks which are fine if they are looked at occasionally.  All your fuel selector plumbing is below the cabin. ALL has to be in good nick. . Fuel leaks are not uncommon in aircraft. They even train for them in the BIG stuff. Nev

 

 

[Guest deanfi]

Not much left of the poor old  Cherokee 6 , glad the humans are ok , there was a similar type incedent in a pa32 where the exhaust manifold cracked and eventually burnt through fuel line, could of been lots of reasons for this one though, at least they where not airborne.

 

https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/134966

 

 

[Jerry_Atrick]

Carby fitted PA28s seem to be notorious for over-priming resulting in fires. The PA28 I occasionally rent is a tatty old school rental but the engine is still shiny new thanks to an over-primed engine resulting in a fire which did enough damage forward of the firewall for the insurance company to put a new engine in it.

 

At Southend (pronounced by the locals as Sarrrrf-end), an Archer II came to grief because of a fire from over-priming. No one was injured in the incruance scam.. er claim... ?

 

 

[facthunter]

No damage to the aircraft/engine forward of the firewall. . Carby equipped engines usually prime through separate primer pipes to ports. The more ports primed the better they start.( More even.) Injection motors are easier to flood in my view. The older drip system types used to often start a grass fire under the front of the plane if you weren't careful. as you prime with fuel pump and throttle position and time.  Nev

 

 

[Thruster88]

My 0-032 lycoming has a primer line to all cylinders, it always starts quickly in all temperatures without throttle pumping. Some pa-28's one have only one cylinder primed and seem to have a lot more difficulty starting locally.

 

Excessive throttle  pumping if the engine is not cranking will allow raw fuel to drip out thru the carb heat selector box into the cowl, an engine back fire and the rest is history. 

 

 

[onetrack]

According to the passenger, he first sighted smoke from under the starboard wing, near the landing gear.

 

As Facthunter says, there's no damage forward of the firewall, so it wasn't an engine fire.

 

If you look closely, you can see the fire was concentrated in the inner starboard wing area.

 

Interestingly, they were carrying 80 galls of fuel, and the firefighters still managed to recover 30 gallons from the port wing tank/s.

 

https://www.heraldtribune.com/news/20191117/fire-engulfs-plane-at-venice-airport

 

https://www.mysuncoast.com/2019/11/17/small-airplane-catches-fire-while-departing-venice-airport/

 

 

[facthunter]

It's probably a split rubber fuel cell. They don't last forever. Just almost forever. We hope.  Don't ignore any petrol smells.  Nev

 

 

[Yenn]

Even if a fuel cell was leaking or something else letting fuel out, there needed to be heat to ignite it. How about a dragging brake.

 

Possibly exhaust gas could have done it, but that puts the gaseous fuel right under the fuselage.

 

 

[facthunter]

Exhausts put out sparks, usually pieces of incandescent carbon, (which you probably notice more at night). Easily light up any fuel dripping from the aircraft or vapour if it's the right mixture ratio range.  Nev

 

 

[onetrack]

Aircraft is now identified as a PA-32-300 six, not a PA-28.

 

http://www.kathrynsreport.com/search?q=venice

 

 

[red750]

I know that now, Onetrack, but at the time the reports only said light plane, and all I could see was the nose sticking out of the black smoke. Took a guess.

 

 

[Guest deanfi]

There was a nasty double fatality crash with a Cherokee 6 where it caught fire .

 

The wrong exhaust clamps where used.  Automotive ones , instead of the ones with locacting pins,

 

It's towards bottom of this link.

 

https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/1998/february/pilot/shortcut-to-disaster

 

 

[Guest deanfi]

I know that now, Onetrack, but at the time the reports only said light plane, and all I could see was the nose sticking out of the black smoke. Took a guess.

 

Its just a pa28 on steroids ?

 

 

[facthunter]

 There's an eight in one of the Cherokee's if you want a hotrod (with plank wings) Nev

 

 

[Thruster88]

 There's an eight in one of the Cherokee's if you want a hotrod (with plank wings) Nev

 

Do you mean the 400 Comanche with the IO-720 Lycoming 

 

 

[onetrack]

Man, what a potent monster! 400HP! - and it will drag locked wheels under full throttle! Under 100 built!

 

But that flat 8 sounds so smooth. This one sat for 18 years! The owner must have been saving up for fuel money?!! 

 

 

 

 

[Guest deanfi]

Bit of thread drift but ........Relentless air race ran a IO-720 , is a 6 cyclinder 540 twin turbo now though

 

 

, 

 

 

[Thruster88]

Man, what a potent monster! 400HP! - and it will drag locked wheels under full throttle! Under 100 built!

 

But that flat 8 sounds so smooth. This one sat for 18 years! The owner must have been saving up for fuel money?!! 

 

Throttled back to the same power and speed of the 260 or even the twinkle(2 x160hp) the fuel flow would not be much worse, the cool factor remains. Nev? 

 

 

[facthunter]

I wasn't sure whether the Cherokee did that engine. I know it was a retract. If it was a Commanche I never saw any when they were near new. They are a little cramped but otherwise a nice plane with a big following in the USA. (.the Commanche's)  nev