I had my first real panic stricken kind of emergency today and it didn't resemble any of the countless emergency procedures I'd practiced.

What started as just a 15 minute fun run from St. Anthony to Driggs changed about 5 minutes out when the cabin filled with burnt electrical stench. My 8 year old son and I had just been dropped off by mom at the hangar and she was to meet us at the South gate in Driggs where I was going to leave the plane for some maintenance. By the time we got it checked over, out the door, and lit, mom had a ten minute head start so we chased her down and and gave her a wing waggle then pointed it to the end of the big holes. That's when it started to stink, not much smoke but that unmistakable smell. I flipped the master off, yanked the vents open and then looked for a place to land. It seemed providential that there was an ag strip to my left so I went for it. I'd strafed it a few times in the past at 150 miles an hour so I knew there was only one good way in and that was over hill and dale from the North. The last 800 feet is pretty flat. Well, the old right to left procedure I'd practiced for the dreaded engine failure, didn't do me much good and the skylane doesn't like impromptu short field landings with no power to the flaps. I slipped it in, realized I was pointing downwind at some point, switched, couldn't see. then got into the up and down hills thing as I idled through about 80 knots. Just as I wondered if I might overshoot the end, I also noticed a spud digger had dribbled about a 18" winrow of dirt and rocks across the road. The electrical smell had cleared up by now so I gave it the onion and went around. I could have stuck the next one, but with 7 minutes to Driggs on the gps and the smell gone, I decided to soldier on where I could get it fixed. I'd calmly handled a few minor things in the past but the thought of a cabin fire and having never done a master off landing in my life, I flailed bad. I'll be doing that again until I get it right......sometime, after they figure out what went tango uniform under the dash.

That has happened one to me in my second 182B and ounce in my first 182B to a friend that barrowed it. Both times it was the reastate that dims the panel lights. Look there first. Does tend to pucker one.

Did I mention that I like manual flaps.

Tim

Good job keeping your head in the game and not panicking

Did you find out what went wrong?? Any popped c/b's?? Hot wires to ground??

Good save and good call on heading to Driggs.....

Smoke in the cockpit SUCKS.....

qmdv wrote:That has happened one to me in my second 182B and ounce in my first 182B to a friend that barrowed it. Both times it was the reastate that dims the panel lights. Look there first. Does tend to pucker one.

Did I mention that I like manual flaps.

Tim

I can't get it looked at until tomorrow, no popped breakers though.

I'll bet you're right Tim, I've had trouble with the panel lights in the past but the resolution was to keep them on dim so-as not to melt the $300 rheostats. I let some kids sit in it at the fly in last week and I bet they twisted those knobs up to bright for me.

That is why I always carry two PBE's (protective breathing equipment) in the Maule.

I also have PBE's mounted in our master bedroom to escape a smoke filled house.

https://www.aeromedix.com/Smoke_Evacuation_Hoods/

I took off in the Mooney one time on a brilliant fall day with the temperature in the high 40F range. As I turned down wind I pushed on the heater and very shortly afterward the cabin filled with smoke. I was in a great place to do a more or less normal pattern so I pulled off the heat and landed. That week I replaced all the old black scat tubing in the heater system. It had dried out so bad at the engine end that it was still smoldering when I got back to the tie down. It helps when one action creates a definite symptom. It still puckered me up a bit.

EB

Years ago I had a tach cable burn up and blow smoke in the cabin. Luckily it didn't smoke much or last long, but it sure got me excited in a hurry.

Good job on handling the situation.

Flying a clapped out club PA28/140 on dual cross-country, I had my instructor decide to flip on the #2 Nav; thinking he would show me how to find an intersection with two VORs. Immediate burning electrical smell in the cabin. I was not a happy camper. Fortunately, switching it back off immediately solved the problem. He observed, "I guess we need to placard that..."

It's definitely not a good feeling. Glad it ended well!!

MAU MAU wrote:That is why I always carry two PBE's (protective breathing equipment) in the Maule.

I also have PBE's mounted in our master bedroom to escape a smoke filled house.

https://www.aeromedix.com/Smoke_Evacuation_Hoods/

Getting some ideas for my next flying helmet...

It will be interesting what you find. My last few flights at night I've had problems with my dimmer, too. I'll make sure I have mine looked at very close.

Glad to outcome was uneventful!

Many years ago I had a plane with an old Superhomer or some kind of radio that had a smoker fuse on it. Smoke came out the front of the radio, it didn't work, and the mechanic told me what was going on. It stopped after a few seconds just as I began to open windows.

When my IA added Nulites to several of my gauges, he replaced the Cessna junk rheostat with a transistorized dimmer--said it would handle the load much better, and he's been right, because it's been in there for 9 years without a hitch. In addition to the Nulites and the original red overhead light, I've had several gauges added, the lights of which all run off that same dimmer.

When my pard and I bought the TR182 way back when, the red light on the panel, labeled "over voltage", kept coming on. I would take the airplane in for this and that warranty work (it was probably built on a Monday--more things wrong with that airplane than imaginable), I'd tell them about the light, and they brushed it off with comments like, "oh, they all do that" and "no, it's mislabeled--it's really an under voltage light." X amount of BS, and of course, it really was an over voltage light, so that at about 30 hours on the tach, the entire King stack suddenly fried--while I was flying. All the panels suddenly got bright, everything stopped working, and a cloud of smoke came out of the center of the stack--but abruptly quit as soon as I turned off the master. So I pumped the gear down, landed sans flaps at Laramie, and made arrangements to run it to Casper for it to be fixed. Turned out the $4.98 voltage regulator was bad (that's my estimate of its worth--probably cost less than $100 back then, though), and of course there was a fight between King and Cessna over the replacement of the $30,000 stack, but it got done, and not at our expense other than being without airplane for a couple weeks.

Glad it all worked out for you--let us know what the cause was.

Cary

Still say it is the rheostat. Fix you crepes if I am wrong

Tim

qmdv wrote:Still say it is the rheostat. Fix you crepes if I am wrong

Tim

I herd you're creeps are pretty dam good?

Not to hijack the thread, but all the nights I spent in Emmett this last summer, I did not get one pot sticker. They do have the best Damn Pot stickers I have ever had.

Tim

No joy on finding the problem but at least it still smells so it can't be passed off. I may follow Cary's lead on getting rid of those sorry Cessna rheostats. I'm still hoping for an ah ha moment. Tim- I'm hoping to sample your much ballyhooed culinary skills, if your crepes are good, at least we could say the French contributed something other than wine and whine. Potstickers sounds more you.

They couldn't find anything but warned me that something is probably going to fail soon. Great, that takes some of the fun out of it. I don't imagine I'll being doing any real instrument flying anytime soon.

Nosedragger wrote:They couldn't find anything but warned me that something is probably going to fail soon. Great, that takes some of the fun out of it. I don't imagine I'll being doing any real instrument flying anytime soon.

And we will all die soon. With the battery mounted on the firewall, when the master switch is off, the only hot wire coming through the firewall is the master switch wire.

Tim

Sounds like you did just fine. I was afraid your story was going to end with, "then I hit the ditch". I like to remind myself if the aircraft will fly keep flying it until a safe landing can be made.

Nicely done.