Originally Posted by
helispotter
A few posts have discussed location of the fire. It struck me looking at the video clips that fire seemed to extend down to well below the height of the underside of the tailboom, perhaps to the clamshell doors?
I can’t get the pic to post,
but this link is a 135 with Arrius engines and most the firewalls removed. The area between the engines is the common intake duct which is open to the xsmn deck and somewhat sealed on the aft end. Any fire in this duct area or outside the firewalls would not be detected.The question is
IF he had a fire light, one would think he would have told the tower he was possibly on fire and to roll the equipment. At a minimum one would think when he called his fire dispatch people to tell them he couldn’t make the scene call he would have asked them to roll some units or at least call the airport to request same.
But if he had a fire outside the engine bays he probably wouldn’t know unless he looked for smoke. And IMO if it was a fuel fire this would have ended earlier and been trailing darker smoke. Unfortunately they didn’t have the clam shell door window mod installed as it may have resulted in a different ending.
Sadly, the footage is a demonstration that lightweight structures desirable for efficient rotorcraft don't equate to prolonged fire resistance.
Light structures can be fire resistant. The light weight 135 engine cowls are made from high temp composites and I believe are rated for 800+C. However, components that reside outside known fire or heat areas are usually made from standard composites.
Originally Posted by
LTP90
That sounds like politics to me. .
Definitely politics. And if this was a Public Use ops with no FAA oversight then politics also influenced how the aircraft was maintained and operated. Especially with the Sheriff’s comments above. Time will definitely tell.