Oops.........

Forgot our military brethren refer to themselves as such..............."FE" is the abbreviation we use on our drawings for siting fire extinguishers.

My apologies........

Flynengr

Wow...so sad. I feel like I should send flowers or somthing.........

M6RV6,
Last summer I was unloading my Caravan at St. Mary's and you flew overhead in that beautiful old 195. I ran out on the ramp and shouted, "Look! A Cessna 195!". No one looked or cared. They though I was crazy. I hauled ass, finished the offload and took off as fast as possible, hoping to take a picture of your plane. There has not been a 195 out there in a million years.....and I'd been thinking of buying one.

Once airborne I headed west, while you went east. We talked on CTAF, but could not meet up as I had a charter to pick up out of Emmonak and you were going over to Pilot Station. Later I saw your plane at Marshall. The memory of the 195 flying overhead is one of my favorite ones of flying in Alaska. A beautiful summer evening, a beautiful old airplane...Pilots just out flying, having a good time. That is what it's all about. I came to ALaska twenty years ago just to see such sights. I hope to get a 195 before my time is done, and I will. I am so sorry about the fire. That was a nice bird. - Ross Nixon

flynengr wrote:...Thanks for sharing about the general uselessness of the weenie FIRE EXTINGUISHER's most of us carry around on a gas fire. Not sure I'd want to pack anything bigger, but .......

Better than nothng at all-- kinda like the 380 that's always in your pocket versus the heavy 45 that's at home in the safe.
My problem would be remembering that I have a fire ext & where it is, in the "heat of battle" (so to speak).

Hot rod it is under the front seat where it is out of the way, and like you said in the heat of the moment it is way under there where you have to stand on your head to see it to get it unhooked because you just ripped part of your finger off from trying to get it out in the blind!!
It is not on the back of the passenger seat where it was and should be because every time you put something in you unhook it?? or when someone sit back there they unhook it with there feet, and I don't think a tyewrap to hold it together is very good either!!!
So you move it out of the way!!
GT

by hotrod150 » Thu Jan 28, 2010 11:11 am

flynengr wrote:
...Thanks for sharing about the general uselessness of the weenie FIRE EXTINGUISHER's most of us carry around on a gas fire. Not sure I'd want to pack anything bigger, but .......

Better than nothng at all-- kinda like the 380 that's always in your pocket versus the heavy 45 that's at home in the safe.
My problem would be remembering that I have a fire ext & where it is, in the "heat of battle" (so to speak).

Hotrod, I hear what you are saying, better to try with something than let it burn, but to shamelessly extrapolate your analogy a gas fire is like a momma grizzly and the caps in your ghetto special are just gonna piss her off......I guess I didn't finish my thought, but I'm thinking based on George's experience I'm gonna be bailing out and take my chances unlocking the hanger PDQ for the 20 lb dry chemical inside the door rather than the squirt gun under the seat.

Flynengr

Fly
I'm going to let my stupidity and complacency show here.
I had rented this hangar at 63S so I would not have to plow my runway all winter and could go skying in the fresh snow instead of plowing!
So this is where my personal traits catch up to me!
I did not get another big fire bottle and put it in the hangar?!?! Hey I put one in the 195!
And being Sunday morning on our little field, nobody else was out playing yet!!
I was going to fly down the river and try to get some pictures of winter Elk in the fields.
So all the rest of the hangars are locked, There is a big bottle over at the fuel rack! About the time I had managed to get there, the smoke and fire was pretty well roaring?
Have had a couple of people tell me where there keys are hid and one that all you have to do is pull sideways on the door!!!
As Forest Gump said STUPID is as STUPID does, or something like that.
GT

Hey George

Don't beat yourself up. Shit happens. We all got great hindsight, and will pay more attention in the future, atleast for awhile.

Personally, I was considering getting a smaller lighter FE for my plane. That idea has gone away after this. I had always carried a larger one, thinking bigger was better. Started thinking the larger FE may be overkill, and smaller would be adequate. I'll stay with the larger one. I pay no real penalty for it, and, me, or someone else maybe happy that I have it one day.

It's a sad loss, but no one was hurt, you had insurance, and you'll find anther plane if you choose to.

Actually saw one on ebay this AM that looked and sounded pretty nice.

Gary

I'm with Gary, George. You did everything you could at the time, and I appreciate you sharing your heartbreaking experience so that some of us get an education.

Flynengr

Sorry for your loss (awful), but I will remember this, as to not repeat it. I'm off now to look up some bigger equipment to fight fires with at the hanger.
Hope you get a new one, I always thought that type of plane looked like fun.

Zona

So sorry to hear about your plane. At least it happened where you could bail out.

Thanks for sharing your painful experience! I keep meaning to put a fire extinguisher in my plane, and somehow I've never gotten around to it. I do believe you've convinced me!

For any others who now appreciate that they need an extinguisher:
I always thought that halon was the only choice for airplanes, but it is fairly expensive (less expensive than a new plane, though). You don't want dry chemical extinguishers around planes because they are highly corrosive. However, there is a third option I've just discovered, called FireAde 2000. It has some advantages over halon, and one drawback - it's not effective on electrical fires unless you first kill the power. However, you can get them in small size for under $20, so it's well worth reading up on them to see if they might be useful to you as a potential substitute or backup for halon.

I am so sorry for your loss, the 195 is one of my all time favorites. I hope the insurance works out, and now after owning one a while you will have a better idea what to look for on your next one.

Thanks for the heads up on the little halon bottle that I have between the seats.

ooohh man, ditto the other replies, this is awful sad. But, it's "just" an airplane, you have the right idea: get another one. 195: outstanding airplane, gets looks everywhere, pretty easy to take care of. Staggerwing: flown it, love it, harder to take care of, really really gets looks everywhere, get this one if money's not a problem and you enjoy working on fabric and arcane landing gear. You'll be happy with either, you know you will.

My family had a 195 in the late '50s when I was too small to reach the rudder pedals . Prior to every start of our 300 Jake, Mom unclipped the extinguisher and had it ready. She used it, too. Several times.

George,
Painful to look at the picture but glad you made it ok. You can always buy another one but it still sucks. Your comment on not mounting the extinguisher under the seats reminded me of an experience I had once. As I slid the passenger seat forward to let a friend in, the safety pin had come loose and the extinguisher unloaded in a loud whoosh with an accompaning white cloud of halon into the cabin. Right in front of the little terminal at Minden, Nevada. Spent about an hour vacuuming up the crap and later had to pull out the carpets and clean underneath everywhere. Felt like a real dipshit. Now my extinguisher sits in a pocket of my cargo net behind the passenger seat where I can easily grab it. Hope the visual maybe made you smile.

M6RV6 wrote:Hot rod it is under the front seat where it is out of the way, and like you said in the heat of the moment it is way under there where you have to stand on your head to see it to get it unhooked .....

I have mine mounted on the tunnel between the pilot & copilot's legs, just in froint of the flap handle. Handy (even in-flight), out of the way, and very visible (if I remember to look down for it!). But I hope I never need to make a grab for it!

Eric

I am so sorry for your loss. I think 195's are about as beautiful as a plane can get. I don't know if your in a position yet to look for another plane but there is one on Ebay that looks nice. Good luck.

Jerry

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Cessna-1 ... 25588ea79f

The story is only surpassed by the photographs that go with it. Boy Oh Boy, Oh Boy.......That is physically painful. Wishing you the best in the future.

My condolences. What a shame. Glad no one was hurt.